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Ignorance is No Excuse – It’s the Law

   Written by on August 28, 2015 at 11:50 am

I just read an article listing the 35 least effective congressmen based on the number of bills they sponsored that passed the committee. The top 30 (meaning least effective) had sponsored up to 70 bills each and not one had passed committee or was voted on as a potential law.

logo- government grumblingsI should add that we don’t need more laws. We need to have a congressional contest to see which ones can eliminate the most laws. There are thousands of outdated and unenforced laws that need to be removed.

These guys and girls found up to seventy laws that (in their opinions) needed to be added to the thousands of laws but none of them even made it out of committee.

This means they not only think we need more laws they think we need laws that even other folks who like passing new laws think we need. This means they have poor judgment as well as no support from their peers.

My theory is that every proposed new law should include two existing laws that would be removed if it is passed.

Last year I was in court reporting on a case. Several times the judge had to look up a point of law. As far as that judge goes it was a good thing. He realized he wasn’t certain how the law read and wanted to make certain he got it right.

On the other hand those of us not involved in the legal process on a regular basis are told “ignorance of the law is no excuse.” We can be charged, convicted and fined or jailed for doing something we didn’t know was against the law. Unlike the judge we can’t stop and research the issue before we act.

I know a man who was ticketed (in another state) for “driving on the median.” When he protested he had pulled off to answer his phone and was not driving he was told. “I know but there isn’t a code section regarding parking on the median.” So what he was doing wasn’t against the law but the officer thought it should have been.

Another man was driving on 460 in Appomattox County when he overtook a State Trooper. As the trooper was driving slowly he passed him. He was stopped and told he couldn’t pass a trooper.

A while back I was stopped for making a turn onto an access ramp. I was stopped and told I made an illegal turn because there was another access just ahead.

We already have too many laws and to many people attempting to enforce laws that aren’t really laws.

Let’s pass a law against passing new laws until all of us can understand the ones we have.

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