Law and morality is not the same thing, and Americans should rely more on morality and less on laws.
One of the things that baffles liberals the most is that laws don’t stop people from behaving in certain ways. Government places a speed limit, and people go right on speeding. Gun-free zones are posted, but people kill in them anyway. In many states, the laws for murder are severe- the death penalty. Yet, people still commit murder in these states.
A criminal will carry a gun whether or not a law says they are allowed. He will rob a bank, even though it is illegal to do so. Conversely, a law-abiding citizen will not kill, steal or rape not because the law tells him not to, but because such behavior is abhorrent to a moral citizen.
Whether a person becomes a criminal therefore, is not because of laws, but because a person sees an act as moral or immoral. This is why our prisons are full of criminals — these individuals did not see such actions as getting high or speeding as an immoral act, or are in some way justifying their criminality by madness, rage or greed. It had nothing to do with whether the act is illegal or not.
This is why conservatives pound the table about morality and why they often wax lengthy on the importance of God in their lives. They view religion as central to morality. This is also why liberals consistently oppose — although not exclusively — religion in government. They do not see religion as important because in their own lives they can act morally without the need for religion.
They do not understand that others may not be so discriminating or may have had as strong an upbringing, therefore see religion as “cultish.” Instead, they promote the ideology of creating laws and government, not realizing their own morality comes not from the law but from their own upbringing.
In short, liberalism fails to acknowledge their own human nature and instead seeks to replace it with government and laws, which is a failing enterprise. This is the goal of something called statism.
Pass enough laws you will not stop crime, but you will fill the prisons with otherwise law-abiding people. Instead we should be looking more toward building morality in our society. This can be done through a variety of ways, both secular and religious. It does not necessitate a state-sponsored religion, but it does require that certain standards of behavior be applied to the public consciousness.
While the Constitution precludes a state religion, the Founders never intended for America to become a godless society. The laws that separate church and government were meant to protect churches from being consumed by government, and not to promote the ideology of a godless and immoral state.
We’ve seen the results of big government in families being destroyed, large swaths of our society being incarcerated and general lack or restraint in the various vices.
Perhaps we should reconsider a more moral society.
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