The Evolution Of A Law Abiding Citizen In Storybook Format

This could be how it all began. We weren't there, but this story is logical based on history. If anything, it is possible and hopefully interesting as we relate the long, winding road in the evolution of a law abiding citizen.

Imagine back to the earliest existence of humans roaming the earth in search of food while also trying to avoid becoming the next meal of a much larger animal. Their existence was pretty basic. Survive with what they had at their disposal. Necessity prompted innovation so tools and weapons got better. All the while it was still a solitary existence of one person or family knowing it was all up to them to stay alive.

This Could Be How It Happened! It Makes Sense!

Decades later people arrived on the vast landmass an ocean away from their past. They too had to carve out their own lives. As more people arrived, some started to reside closer to one another. As they were all in the same struggle, these neighbors would become quick to lend a helping hand when a fellow trailblazer faced hardship.

They would begin to share surplus food when someone needed help in the short term. Some of these early settlers had specific building skills, some had developed a particular acumen for growing crops in a harsh environment. A barter system would soon evolve. The first glimpse of a law abiding citizen was taking shape. To be described in such high terms as law abiding required a moral compass and a measure of integrity.

Those needing help would willingly pay back the favors when they were able to do so. It would be generally established that a person's property and possessions were theirs because they worked for them and not subject to the whims of thieves and theorists looking for an easy score.

But those thieves did exist. Thieves and less reputable theorists are at their base, opportunists. The thing about property and possessions is that there is always someone looking to steal it.

While not yet considered laws, there became agreed upon punishments for misdeeds like theft and personal injury. The penalties were often delivered quickly and painfully. As the populations became "civilized" so to did the general consensus of drafting written rules of acceptable conduct.

Specialized occupations sprang up to allow people to accumulate property and possessions by providing a service. There were horses to be shod. That quick justice for misdeeds led to a growing undertaker business. Specialized agents were installed to enforce these new rules of the land.

A representative system of government was established to send a citizen to the nation's capital to speak for the interests of each section of this growing nation. Interlopers from foreign lands would breach the shores of this fledgling republic looking to pillage the wealth and prosperity.

An army was formed to defend the homeland. All the while the same paired phenomena from the past surrounding this ideal of a law abiding citizen remained.

1.) The citizens had a moral, ethical duty to follow the laws of the land, both written and in spirit.

2.) There would be thieves and unethical theorists who would look to usurp the ideals of number one to line their own pockets.

The bigger challenges would come from within. Laws would be developed in sections of the land that would contradict the moral compass that formed the new nation. These egregious laws were solely intended to serve the selfish interests of a small segment of society.

The original writers of the vision of this nation put in place a method of change that could eliminate unfair rules. It didn't always work smoothly, but it did work. It didn't always happen as fast as it should have, but it did happen. This dream of a nation of law abiding citizens was a work in progress, but it was progressing. Even in the face of the thieves and theorists.

Thieves and Theorists

It's been said that a liar is worse than a thief because you can watch the thief, but the liar goes undetected much of the time. Theorists can fall into both categories, but not all are thieves and not all are liars.

Our greatest inventions, our most significant advancements came from the imaginative minds of theorists. They are easy to spot because all of their actions are based on making things better for humanity. Their intentions are noble, their direction one of integrity.

But when opportunists see an opening, they slither into roles as another kind of theorist. Most never created anything, never owned a business, never gave of themselves in support of humanity as a whole. Some deceived their way into the cushy government titles that were supposed to serve their nation, but in reality, became well-compensated social clubs.

Some of the theorists, well-guarded by personal security blathered on about taking away the position holders who would enforce the rules that protect law abiding citizens. The results were predictable as the thieves took over big cities and terrorized the innocent citizens who were never asked about their protection being removed.

Of equal danger are the theorists who have made a lucrative career parked in university positions encouraging a new generation who have also never built anything, nor in many cases ever worked a job, to eschew the morality of law abiding citizens and instead use violent destruction as their voice of change. Like the political opportunists, these academic opportunists also hid behind personal protection, safeguarded from the violence they promoted.

A Law Abiding Citizen Is Driven By Morality And Ethics.

"Much of the social history of the Western world, over the past three decades, has been a history of replacing what worked with what sounded good." Thomas Sowell

To be a law abiding citizen requires morality and ethics. There is no shortcut. To be a law abiding citizen requires dedication to becoming and remaining an informed citizen who asks questions and questions answers.

It requires a determination to change bad laws using the civilized system established to initiate such change. It demands a fierce resolve to seek equal justice under the law and equal responsibility to abide by the moral spirit of civilized society.

That's how it all started centuries ago. Well, it seems like that is how it must have begun!

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