AHN                                    Government is a scam                                            22 April 2007

Have you ever thought about it?  Whatever law is on the statute book, you are required to obey it.  You may never have heard of the law in question, but you can get fined, or even imprisoned, for failing to follow it.  MPs vote on their own salary, and have a subsidised restaurant and bar, so the money has to come from somewhere.  What better method of raising money that to quietly pass a law and then fine people for not knowing about it.  Even if you vigorously follow Parliamentary proceedings, there are ways of getting a law in place.  Some of the proceedings mean that even MPs are unaware of a new law.  Just one of the surreptitious ways of making a law is my an Order in Council.  This type of law is dreamed up by the Privy Council and signed by the Queen.  One website states "in practice it is issued only on the advice of the cabinet. "  That means that MOST OF THE TIME the government leans on the Privy Council to make a bit of law that they don't want to be made public.   It does appear that the Queen could dream up some piece of law and sign it into action even without the government's knowledge.  But I am of the opinion that Her Majesty is above that sort of hocus-pocus; just imagine the uproar if it came to light; it would give the anti-monarchists the ammunition they have always wanted.

Ministerial Orders are another way of squeezing money out of the electorate.  There is an ongoing argument about the legality of tolls on certain roads in Scotland.  You can bet your bottom dollar that there is some hokey-pokey going on beneath the surface that will end up with a Ministerial Order.

Then there is the other side of the story.  There are all sorts of unpleasant and anti-social activities that are not illegal.  It's not illegal to tell lies, unless they can be directly linked to an intention to defraud someone.  The trouble with the English Language is that all sorts of lies can be told in such a manner that the liar can, when confronted, say "that's not what I meant.  The problem is that would-be honest traders are in competition with the sharp-practice merchants.  This means that if you do not sail very close to the edge of the law, you are at a very distinct disadvantage.  And when Courts have to adjudicate in prosecutions for "mis-selling", they can only find a defendant guilty on the most extreme cases.  Even if a Court finds a fraudster guilty, the chances are that he will get exonerated on appeal.