In my teen years, I attended a few concerts. Heavy metal was once my preferred genre of music. The Who was a favored band. Armed with concert tickets- general admission, scheduled for December 1979 at the Silver Dome, Pontiac, MI with up to 100,000 people expected to attend, we were unexpectedly jolted with the “Cincinnati Tragedy” as that mass of people riotously entered the arena crushing to death eleven other concert goers.
This event still ranks as the number one tragedy of its kind. It also signifies our thesis today- The Law of the Jungle! The Law of the Jungle is a colloquialism defining a belief system “to kill or to be killed” or some sub-form thereof, “every man for himself,” “no rules apply,” etc.
The inferences of the Jungle are plain to see. No law, no life, no security, great danger, severe consequences and a systemic destruction from within. No Jungle society could ever prosper or maintain itself operating under this lawless premise. Both swift and immediate its end would be!
Juxtaposed against the Law of the Jungle is The Rule of Law. The Rule of Law is the arbiter of a free society, safe from the unfettered license of the Jungle, which allows for the harm of one’s neighbor. Rather, governed both from within and from an external force, the Rule of Law remains objective and thus immune from the potential of any one entity’s Jungle actions or beliefs. As Thomas Payne in Common Sense rightly opined,
“Where . . . is the King of America? I’ll tell you Friend, he reigns above, and doth not make havock (sic) of mankind like the Royal [Brute] of Britain. . . . Let a day be solemnly set apart for proclaiming the charter; let it be brought forth and placed on the divine law, the word of God; let a crown be placed thereon, that so far as we approve of monarchy, that in America THE LAW IS KING. For as in absolute governments the King is law, so in free countries, the law ought to be King . . . But . . . let the crown at the conclusion of the ceremony be demolished, and scattered among the people whose right it is.”
The foundation of our Independence from England started and ended with this one question who is the sovereign? Shall it be the KIng? Or, shall it be the Rule of Law? Payne rightly synthesized implicitly, that it is both. But note, the King be not of England. Rather, the King is God and His Rule of Law is Scripture. The Rule of Law has and always shall remain permeated throughout creation. Our Country’s laws merely pattern themselves after Scripture.
That Jungle forces presently prevail today, most especially in Family Court, most prominently in Oakland County, is merely symptomatic of the blight on the bench. Not, a chink in the impenetrable amour of the Law. The Law and its King are both immutable. Thus, we need only believe as such! Operate as such! And, Jungle Rule shall desist!
Most apropos is the recent removal of Lady Justia’s Scales of Justice from the Oakland County Courthouse! Re-establishing the Rule of Law, accomplishing both in actuality and symbolically the return of the Scales of Justice shall be easily accomplished this November at the ballot box! Until such time, shall we continue to believe that Jungle Rule applies?
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