A
law-abiding citizen is one who
consistently
obeys the
laws of his
government. With laws from three levels of government in existence in the United States, namely
federal law,
state law and
local ordinance, exactly how law-abiding can a citizen possibly be? There are many federal laws, countless state laws, and
myriads of local
ordinances that each and every citizen MUST abide by, or else, suffer the penalty of law.
Remember that in
ancient Hebrew society, about 613 individual laws from the
Torah had to be strictly obeyed 24/7, and, as
history shows, the
typical Hebrew man/woman fell
significantly short of obeying ALL 613 laws 24/7. In our modern society,
police do not STRICTLY
enforce each and every law, (not even state and local) and many people almost regularly get by with minor and even major
crimes, often in the very presence of those who can
arrest someone without
warrant for a witnessed crime.
Do you know, by heart, every federal law, every law of your state, as well as every law of your
city/
county? If so, then that is excellent, because the typical
American is fully aware of only 25% to 60% of the total number of laws that must be strictly obeyed 24/7, or else be
prosecuted by the federal, state or local government, depending upon the level of government that you
offended. There exists a great deal of ignorance of the many myriads of laws that apply to our daily lives, and this is regardless of the
court's strict enforcement of
ignorantia legis neminem excusat and
ignorantia juris non excusat, which synonymously mean "ignorance of the law is no excuse".
Regardless of the total number of laws that MUST be obeyed 24/7, each and every law in the
United States MUST be within the boundaries outlined by
The Constitution of the United States of America. Despite the many laws in existence in our country, the United States, we citizens have a great deal more rights and liberty, as well as a great deal more
tolerance and
mutual respect from the government, here in the United States than in any
totalitarian or
communist country, thanks to the U.S. Constitution.