question authority. Despite a penchant for authority, it is still a fundamental drive in every American to want to break the law.
An underlying American value is to evaluate every law for the sole purpose to consider breaking the law. Every day, Americans encounter laws they choose to break. The decision whether or not to break a law is usually governed by a risk analysis. We ask ourselves questions: How much trouble will I get into if I get caught? Is breaking this law worth the risk of my getting caught? My advice: break the law but don’t get caught.
Most of the time, I am a responsible adult and I do follow the law. Advising people to break the law sounds like a terrible thing to say to honest people. However, when you consider that the whole notion of law is rooted in authority that tends to control the populace to benefit the rich, it is not so strange after all. Emerson said, “Our leaders are slaves to public opinion and do not make decisions based on integrity. They are all about winning and power and not about doing the right thing.” Whether or not you choose to break the law needs to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis to establish the true merits of the law and to examine why it was made. Ask yourself: who will benefit?
In Le Père Goriot published in Revue de Paris in 1834, Honore Balzac said, “Behind every great fortune there is a crime.” He did not elaborate on the type or size of crime. Crime to one person might be civil disobedience to another. I’m not encouraging you to arbitrarily break the law. I can only emphasize that it is important to break the law when the law is simply not working. You have to weigh the risks. Assess the benefit to you (as well as others) against the potential outcome. Some laws were made to keep people safe and some were not. Some laws were made for economic and political reasons and can be a form of arbitrary oppression. A brief historical rendition of oppressive American law would include: Slavery, discrimination against women, minorities and gays, the poor, the mentally ill, and unfair treatment to workers through the Industrial Age. Even in America people have lost their liberty and have been treated unfairly in the name of the law!
The American Judicial system has designed law so it can be broken for a higher good. Breaking the law with honor is based on the principles of civil disobedience. Recall the examples made by Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks and Mahatma Gandhi, who employed non-violent actions to break the law. Always remember, people make laws. American laws are alive and fluid; and they were designed to evolve over time and be changed. Instead of breaking the law, you can take initiative and make change happen. If you have the time, motivation, and money, you can change the law by working through the system. But if you don’t have the time, motivation, and money, there is an alternative. You can learn to become sneaky smart.
Excerpted from Patricia Vaccarino's book American Spin.