Law and order

People rightly say that the role of Government is to provide an orderly society and a frame work within which we can live securely, but it also provides an enforceable (through the Gardai & Courts) set of values which control the functioning of our society. Within the laws are embedded (hopefully) our cultural norms and as members of our society we have an obligation to work within these norms and values. If you don't want to conform you can drop out altogether or leave. 

The rules should apply to all citizens equally. They don't. Criminals wearing a Dick Turpin mask, a Louis Copeland suit or a priests robe consistently remind us of our diversity and failings. Failings that sap the energy and life from the normal law abiding citizens. 

The Garda representatives recently stated that they would break the law in order to defy Government policy and that they are willing to pay the consequences for their illegal actions. 

I would remind them that when you have a strong convictions that you are right and they are wrong, i.e. that the laws are in need of change. It may well be that you are willing to pay the consequences for your illegal actions. But what of the consequence for the rest of us in terms of law and order and the respect for the law enforcers? 

Unfortunately, in measuring whether people are making decisions that are socially responsible, there is no reason to expect that they might follow a higher standard than that provided by the law, since the law seems to define only the high watermark of our social norms. 

If we desire to have a particular moral or ethical view be a value in our society, then we should move to make laws that reflect these values. Not break the laws. The purpose of laws is to have an orderly society that maintains the values of the culture at large - that includes the Gardai.