Laws for the Hell of It

A preposterous amount of time is spent creating laws in every nation in this world. Most of these laws are laced with bias and are totally unnecessary because civilized folks can learn to teach their youngins common sense.

When we do make laws that are intended to enhance democracy or protect our citizenry from criminals, then we absolutely must enforce the law fully and equally. Otherwise, the law is arbitrary and should be scrapped before the ink dries.

For example, in my town in Japan (and in many others nationwide) there are many narrow roads which, if not cleared during an emergency, could pose a threat to rescue vehicles. A side street about a block from the station is just such an emergency road and parking is prohibited.

However, several times a day big, private tour buses are allowed by the police to park on this street for an hour or so at a time to gather passengers. Illegal! I have pointed this out to the police officers but they do nothing. Moreover, when these buses park there they totally block the peripheral vision of the driver passing by them and cars could (and do) suddenly turn onto the narrowed narrow street as I’m approaching the corner. No doubt this has caused and will cause more minor and not so minor accidents leading to bodily injury or even death.

At times when those buses are not there, the bank customers want to park on that street to briefly go into the bank. Since there is NO bank parking, they stop their much smaller and less obstructive vehicles, put on the emergency blinkers, and rush into the bank to complete their business transaction.

Meanwhile, the gotcha traffic cops mark your tire and if it takes you more than ten minutes, they will tow your car away and give you a $300 ticket. Now that is a lesson in how we are being abused with arbitrary laws which are arbitrarily enforced.

Does the logic that the bus is big or is doing business make the supposed danger of parking on this side street disappear? Absolutely not. The bus is breaking the law and endangering passing cars, yet the police give them a GET OUT OF JAIL FREE card. On the other hand, the common citizen gets the full arm of the law for a short-term stop.

Many cities in Japan now have dozens of NO SMOKING WHILE WALKING signs painted into the sidewalk. Japanese are very obedient people when pressured, but these signs are another joke. While the city hires retirees to remove bicycles from in front of the station (which they do religiously), the brash and uncaring smokers don’t give a damn about the rule (that is not a law).

In this case, the intent is very positive: keep the streets clean and don’t force non-smokers to inhale toxic side smoke. Yet the money these cities and wards are paying to paint these signs into the sidewalk don’t mean squat because the law has no bite and the police don’t want to actively enforce it.

Wherever you may live on this planet – whether a free nation or a fascistic state –politicians are undoubtedly taking their prejudices and biases to the street. They think that their job is to create laws to insure law and order. Our duty as citizens is to make sure politicians are held accountable for unfair or unenforceable laws.

Writer Bertolt Brecht got it right when he penned: “The law was made for one thing alone, for the exploitation of those who don’t understand it, or are prevented by naked misery from obeying it. “

Laws for the hell of it in no way elevate democracy. It is only the tool of a police state or one in the making.