To Beloved “Anonymous” Texters Whose Spinelessness Never Ceases To Amaze:
“The force of public opinion cannot be resisted when permitted freely to be expressed. The agitation it produces must be submitted to.” – Thomas Jefferson
Tyrants from all over the world cry: “Let us uphold the rule of law! Down with the rule of the mob!” Marcos and his lawyers and generals used the lore of “the rule of law” to perpetuate their power, lest we forget. The rule of law has been so misused of late–so much so that its status has been relegated to that of a cliche of the most notorious kind.
When the law has failed its purpose or has been twisted by conniving lawyers for the benefit of a few, is there still a “rule of law”? Lawyers and judges do not have the monopoly of defining and invoking the “rule of law”. Laws exist because people consent to be governed by the law. The law is not meant to be a tool to repress. When the people uprise to protest the misapplication of the law, their consent to be governed by such misapplied law is deemed revoked.
Who then is the “mob”? When the people clamor to speak out, are they the “mob”? Are the voices of lawyers louder and saner than the common masa… Or as detractors would call them, “the mob”? If so, we ought to listen to the mob rather than belittle their collective voice, for unlike lawyers, they do not have professional fees to collect at the end of the day.
We can differ and disagree. But let us allow each other to differ and disagree without resorting to devious innuendoes.
Be brave, be candid, take a personal stand. Name names. Fight injustice if you feel like it.
But stop being a coward and stop hiding under the blanket of “the rule of law”. We are all citizens– armed with the freedom of speech and the right to peaceable assembly, gifted by God with the wisdom to know the limits of black-letter law and its potentials for misapplication.
