What's So Great About Breaking the Rules?

Rules. They have been the overarching structure of our lives since our parents told us “no” as babies. We may not have liked them, but they were there for a reason. For our own good.

Whether it is rules, regulations or even laws, we seem to have a unique way of determining for ourselves whether or not we should have to stick to the legal order of how we are allowed to do things. We all know we aren’t supposed to exceed the speed limit or change lanes without a blinker. Yet, every single day, millions of people do just that.

People don’t like to be told what to do – that is clear. But we have rules, regulations and laws in place so people will do what is right rather than what feels good to them. Imagine the trillions of corrupt acts that may have been deterred by the Ten Commandments. If someone didn’t tell a bully that it was illegal for him to take what didn’t belong to him, do you think he would think twice about stealing from someone? Not a chance. Ask Eve. Breaking the rules is part of our DNA.

We seem to have reached a point where adherence to the structures put in place for our own good is at its lowest point. Other than people making up their own rules when it comes to driving habits (when was the last time you texted while seated in your car?), we seem to have more and more examples of people just doing what they want anytime they want.

During the waning days of the legislative session, every Oklahoma media outlet was reporting about the Constitutional requirement for the Legislature to approve a state budget prior to the last week of session. A budget agreement wasn’t reached until midway through the final week, and the budget was approved without any regard for the law. And legislative leadership insisted there was nothing wrong with passing the budget when they did. Laws were just a second thought and not something to stand in the way of selfishness.

 

This wasn’t the first time I have witnessed this careless disregard for the rules by elected officials and it isn’t something that one party gets to boast they do better than the other. Majority equals power and power equals ignorance of what was known when power was absent.

Think this is limited to just our state? Not a chance. We have an elected leader in the White House whose disdain for rules, regulations and laws has been at an all-time high. The last time I checked, he hadn’t actually passed a single law that corresponded with his campaign agenda. Instead, he took free reign to use executive orders to bypass Congress in hamstringing the entire population with his version of the laws.

Even societal rules have been completely tossed aside for “the greater good,” and it is starting to wear out even the President’s strongest supporters. It’s a good thing for elected officials to understand and use social media as a way to stay in touch with those they have been elected to represent. However, attack tweets in the middle of the night show a behavior usually reserved for psycho exes and drunken bullies. Clearly, we have a problem.

It wasn’t as if we didn’t know ahead of time. Whether it was boasting he could still get elected even if he killed a man or his encouraging publicly for the Russians to expose emails (which eventually happened), we have seen an unprecedented and blatant misuse of power.

Ask any business owner about regulations and they will tell you instantly how much they hate them. Especially small business owners. They are adamant that they are killing their business. However, what they don’t seem to realize is that many of those regulations are there to keep the industry “bad seeds” from misbehaving. Are you curious as to whether or not non-regulated businesses will do the right thing? Let’s go back to working conditions at the turn of the 20^th century and see what that might look like. Do people really want young boys back in the coal mines and women restricted to working at home?

Just imagine if we still lived in a world with a lack of regulations. How good would you feel going out to eat? Or even buying food from the grocery store? How trusting would you be just buying seeds to plant your own food?

There is a reason we have so many regulations, rules and laws. People left to their own devices supported by pressure to accomplish positive results will generally take the most direct path. And that will more often than not would mean breaking the rules we have in place now, avoiding the regulations we have created over time and ignoring the laws passed as a result of negative behaviors. So, be glad we have structures in place to prevent greedy and selfish people from doing what they want. Those who are thriving today by ignoring those limits on what they can do will find out that the U.S. is not a country that takes cheating lightly.