OPINION: What does the rule of law mean and why is it so important to America?
We hear a lot of talk these days about “the rule of law” but not so much about what those words mean. They mean that the government may not take actions contrary to existing laws. The words are vitally important to everyone living in the United States, legally or not, because they protect all residents from arbitrary government action. People can’t just be grabbed off the streets without getting their day in court. That is extremely important for individuals, but the rule of law is so much more than that. It is the reason that the United States has grown to be the most prosperous nation on the planet. The country must live within the law to maintain that remarkable prosperity.
You have to go back 249 years to when the colonists signed the Declaration of Independence, telling King George III to take a hike. Technically, the King’s misdeeds required the concurrence of the British Parliament, so our forefathers were calling it quits with the entire British government. The drafters were fed up with the King’s actions, like slapping a tea tax on the colonies in 1773. They all loved their tea. That and other taxes had a detrimental effect on colonial businesses and their customers. When the King took hurtful actions, there was nothing the colonialists could do about it. As their Declaration said: “He has made Judges dependent on his will.”
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