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"Opinion: Bill Walton, Anarchy?

Whatever happened to the Rule of Law? Your move, Justin.
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I suppose that will seem like a rhetorical question to many as the answers are fairly obvious.

The Rule of Law has been bent, twisted, and broken so often in our modern society that it is barely recognizable. A definition of the Rule of Law is in order: Rule of Law is a principle under which all persons, institutions, and entities are accountable to laws that are: Publicly promulgated and equally enforced.

We all know that the rich and poor are supposed to be treated equally before the Law but in the age of oligarch politicians and billionaires, money and influence talk - a conversation poor folk cannot have. Toss in religion, race, colour, and then sexual orientation and those honourable publicly promulgated ideals are tossed under the bus of modern-day expedience, compromise, and budgetary considerations.

In a democratic country like Canada one might hope that the laws are agreed upon by a majority or at least a representative majority through our political system. But not everyone agrees that the Canadian version of the Rule of Law applies to him or her. Some people are just anarchists and would not be satisfied under any set of rules, others have a historical reason for a different set of laws; some have religious ideals that are contrary to our Rule of Law. Some immigrants would like to bring their former country’s laws with them. The trick is to accommodate all these anomalies within the Rule of Law.

Our Honourable Prime Minister is an example of the difficulty we have in maintaining a rule of law. He will talk your ear off in trying to compromise without losing a vote, and this could be a good thing except in the cases where protestors and anarchists are ruining the livelihood of others to gain their goals. However, he himself was a perfect example of how to tarnish the rule of law. Need I mention the SNC Lavalin or the Admiral Norman affairs? That too was a rhetorical question.

Although we may be a little hypocritical in demanding a higher standard of following the Rule of Law by our leaders, they knew that when they stood for office or applied for jobs where following the rules was expected. Being an oligarch or oiligarch may have tainted the person with privilege and habit but when they come before the law they ought to expect equally. Not only is there the Court of Law where one expects to be treated fairly, but now there is the court of public opinion and that can be capricious.

The judge and jury on social media sometimes render verdicts without all the facts or use alternate facts as some tweeters like to phrase their decision-making process. Hearing both sides of an argument is something our judges who administer the Rule of Law are trained to do. We may not always agree with their decisions, but being humans, we ought to expect a few mistakes now and then.

The problem we face in our system of Rule of Law is not when we, or the courts, face a sociopath or an anarchist - we can understand their problems - but when we face the cultural and religious beliefs that led to a breaking of the Law. We seem to want to accommodate the variance, setting precedence, rather than apply the publicly promulgated laws that we believe are the foundation of our society. What we could be doing is helping these people to present their ideas to the public in the hope that they can persuade the public to change our Rule of Law to include their ideas.

What we do not need is anarchy. Public protests and strikes have their place in our country but there are limits, processes, and rules to follow. If we do not follow the rule of law then we can expect anarchy or a breakdown of our society. Let’s not get ourselves into a mess where we can no longer live peaceably with our neighbours.

Keep talking Justin, but realize that eventually you will have to make a decision.





Bill Walton

About the Author: Bill Walton

Retired from City of North Bay in 2000. Writer, poet, columnist
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