The founding principle underlying our representative republic is respect for the rule of law.
Countless social and commercial interactions make up our civil society. Civility is the basic respect that citizens in a civil society owe to each other. The concept of civility is inherent in the rule of law, regardless of who we might be or whether or not we approve of our laws. There exists a fundamental and implicit contract that binds all citizens. This contract creates the conditions that result in civil society.
This fundamental contract among citizens is upheld by democratic elections, which reflect the will of the people. All citizens are subject to these laws, which must be enforced with equality. Citizens consent to abide by the laws, or they are entitled to work peacefully to remove or alter them. This is the fundamental contract between all citizens. Laws are the basis of the relationship between citizens and civil society.
This means all laws. Members of a civil society cannot simply pick and choose the laws they obey or disregard. The law is not a buffet where citizens may choose which laws to support or reject. To undermine this civil contract is to destabilize the foundations of our Constitutional Republic, which creates inequities in the law and how it is prosecuted.
Today, this fundamental contract is being eroded, causing the dangerous divisions we witness across the country. These days, it is almost impossible for citizens of differing viewpoints to have reasoned, civil conversations about policy issues. Much of this disagreement stems from the politicized emphasis on diversity.
One of our national mottos—E pluribus unum, “out of many, one”—succinctly encapsulates the civil society with a common set of values: freedom of the press, speech, assembly, association, etc. Those values, which we strive to create and sustain, are basically the first ten amendments to the U.S Constitution. It stresses the idea that diversity without unity destroys the fundamental civil contract that members in our society must have with one another.
When the law is bent to serve some while persecuting others, the civil society cannot survive. The chaos and anarchy we see from coast to coast is the evil fruit that comes from this corrupted tree.
