I do not refer here to God's Law. This is a secular post, though I will happily agree with you that, counting God's Law, there are two laws that cannot be overcome or repealed.
Following the Law of God may (should) gain us salvation and life eternal. The sticking point is that we may not always know what God wants of us in a given situation, or, when we think we do, we too often find that someone else thinks differently. Millions of lives have been consumed in disagreements about what God really wants us to do.
But, regardless (
not "irregardless"), though God's Law is far, far more important than the law I wish to discuss here, the law to which I refer is just as immutable and has consequences, for good and ill, usually ill, on human happiness.
The law to which I refer here is the Law of Unintended Consequences.
Whenever we humans make a law, however well-intended it may have been, however carefully drafted, however obvious or reasonable it may have seemed at the time, there may be unforeseen consequences, and often unhappy ones.
Whenever we humans have an idea, or espouse a principle, no matter how well thought out, how well regarded it may be, or how popular, that idea or principle will likewise often spawn unhappy consequences.
In 40 years as a lawyer, and as a lifelong student of history, I have seen, time and again, how the Law of Unintended Consequences has fouled up well-intended laws and programs and, well, as the poet Burns said, "The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men/ Gang aft agley."
I would like to talk about this in future posts, and provide concrete illustrations of what I mean, but I don't want to have to explain this each and every time.
Now... how do we deal with the Law of Unintended Consequences? Sometimes, and this is a theme I want to develop as well, we have to go back to the law or idea that spawned them and change, or soften, or even repeal or rethink the underlying law or idea. Sometimes we may need to merely adjust our frame of reference.
Before I get around to my illustrations of the Law of Unintended Consequences, you may wish to consider, from your own experience, what laws you have seen enacted that had unintended consequences. For lawyers, I am sure this will be an easy exercise. The only hard part will be limiting the number of illustrations.
To Be Continued....
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