[lbo-talk] law

Michael Dawson MDawson at pdx.edu
Thu Sep 9 09:31:49 PDT 2004


^^^^^ CB: Most people don't think the law has some special injunctive force because it was passed by good procedures.

I don't quite get the confusion in this thread. Of course people don't normally walk around thinking about political theory when they obey or break laws. And of course most people "obey laws" in most cases because many good laws merely codify ordinary ethical conduct, which, despite our hugely screwed up and amoral power structure, remains quite widespread among the commoners.

Despite all this, it remains true that, ultimately, people do subscribe to or reject laws because of the fairness of the procedures that create them. Foucault was wrong. It is not all arbitrary corruption and power. Reality exists, and people are able, under certain hard-to-obtain conditions, to make and enforce fair laws that arise from observation and debate of reality.



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