No one believes in the rule of law (and that’s a good thing)
Channel: ItHadToBeSaid
Date: 2019-11-24

Continuing on last week’s theme of legal authority and where it comes from, this video is about laws. I talk about why we follow them and why we shouldn’t, and explain why using the law to tell people what to do is violent and hypocritical. I also explain what people mean when they say the average adult commits three felonies a day, and what it means when they say "ignorance of the law is no excuse". If you think you know and follow the law, this video is for you.

Links:

How California’s pistachio farmers are pushing for sanctions on Iran: https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2019/05/heres-why-california-pistachio-farmers-lobby-for-w.html

The IRS admits it focuses on the poor because it’s “easier”: https://www.propublica.org/article/irs-sorry-but-its-just-easier-and-cheaper-to-audit-the-poor

How the wealthy decide what laws to make:
Michael Perelman, The Invention of Capitalism: https://www.dukeupress.edu/The-Invention-of-Capitalism/
Gabriel Kolko, The Triumph of Conservatism: https://archive.org/details/KolkoGabrielTheTriumphOfConservatism/
C. Wright Mills, The Power Elite: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Power_Elite

Banks who got a slap on the wrist for laundering drug money: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-hsbc-probe-idUSBRE8BA05M20121211, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/apr/03/us-bank-mexico-drug-gangs, https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/los-zetas-laundered-money-bank-america_n_1658943, https://fortune.com/2017/01/19/western-union-fraud-money-laundering/

Examples of bad laws: https://www.rd.com/culture/weird-laws/, https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/03/13/the-classist-racist-history-of-jaywalking/, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=um5gMZcZWm0, https://reason.com/2010/12/07/the-war-on-cameras/, https://reason.com/2011/06/23/reason-on-tv-epstein-judge-nap/, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/feb/16/protest-police-liberty-central, https://www.mic.com/articles/86797/8-ways-we-regularly-commit-felonies-without-realizing-it, https://www.cracked.com/article_19450_6-laws-youve-broken-without-even-realizing-it.html