We all know pedestrians who recite the tired old cliché that if something is a law, it must be for good reason. All laws are legitimate in the eyes of the willing slaves. As Judge Andrew Napolitano writes in his book, It is Dangerous to Be Right When the Government is Wrong:
One might well question what is meant by valid. After all, we will most likely obey a law regardless of whether it comports with the natural law, so long as the consequence of obeying that law is punishment. By imposing a requirement of validity, we ensure that our government is constrained by the natural law. Could our politicians, practically speaking, pass laws which violate the Constitution? Of course, as is frequently the case.
…If there is any message that I hope to communicate in this book, it is that all of us should be constantly questioning the validity of our officials’ commands. If they violate the natural law, then we must do everything in out power to right their wrongs and restore our freedom; at the simplest, it will entail voting them out of office; at the most extreme, it will mean abolishing that government altogether.
One story, about an emaciated dog, has owned the Detroit airwaves the last couple of days. Ace is a pit bull mix that was picked up as a stray in Detroit on November 4th. Ace, who was picked up near an Ace Hardware, is being detained at Detroit Animal Control, which, as most people know, is essentially a government killing pen. The numerous media photos and story of the dog’s plight has launched an outpouring of private organizations and individuals willing to donate money for the dog’s medical care and boarding, foster it, or take it in as a rescue animal that will be assessed and potentially placed up for adoption. Imagine that? Generous and affected private individuals willing to give their time, money, and resources to head up a voluntary cause. Instead, the city of Detroit is keeping the dog locked up and its faceless bureaucrats are targeting it for euthanasia because the dog is part pit bull. And the government has decided that all pit bulls are collectively assessed, and mostly, put to death. The rules say that the animal prison must hold the dog for five days awaiting possible owner return (forget the fact that the dog is a long-term, emaciated stray), and then its fate is decided. And pit bulls are usually killed without further ado.
After I saw the latest update on the 6pm news tonight, I thought it was great to see how many people who are advocating for the dog to be released into private care are angry at the appalling behavior of the bureaucrats, pointing their fingers at obsolete laws, and essentially blaming government for its rigid bureaucracy that is unable to approach each situation on its own merits. The folks being interviewed on tonight’s news broadcast all spoke to the fact – even if inadvertently – that this case of the emaciated dog was pitting voluntary, private interests against horse-and-buggy local law. And those folks have been told that the state of affairs of this dog, in spite of numerous private parties throwing money and resources at the situation, cannot be altered from the law that holds it a captive victim of draconian government.
This might seem like a petty fight to most libertarians, but I believe that it is these small things, close to the heart, that expose folks to tyranny in their own backyards and affect those people who would not otherwise be drawn to larger libertarian ideals. I think we win converts in this way – when people are able to experience the incompetence and tyrannical nature of governments from a point of view to which they can relate. My guess is that the emotional outrage on the part of people who work for voluntary animal rescues will cause the lowly paper shufflers to back off and turn the dog, Ace, over to some private interest that will promote his life instead of condemn him to his legislated death.
