On Mon, 11 Jul 2005 22:54:10 GMT, David CL Francis
wrote in
::

On Fri, 8 Jul 2005 at 04:48:52 in message
s.com, Mike Granby
wrote:
As to the arguement that breaking one
rule leads to breaking another, with respect, that is nonsense. That's
like saying speeding leads to murder...

I was once at a local discussion about crime when one person
'contributed' that speeding was the 'same as murder'. I started to have
a real go at him but the police terminated the discussion and changed
the subject!

It made me realise what weird views abound.


Each of us is endowed with a finite amount of innocence. There is
only one first cigarette, only one first copulation, only one first
deliberate act of law violation. To the extent that breaking a petty
law removes that innocence, it paves the way for further breaches of
laws.

So while speeding and murder are certainly not the same in their
degree of transgression, they are both members of the class labeled
breaches of law. For that reason, unreasonable laws (like the former
national 55 mph speed limit) rob law abiding citizens of their
innocence, and overcome one's natural aversion to wrong, thus
facilitating further legal transgressions.