Burgess column: Laws are made to be followed
Most of us have had times in our lives when we gave in to the seductive idea that the rules, maybe just this time, didn’t apply to us. Some people seem to like the security of rules and laws, but most of us want to do what we want, when we want to.
There’s a common saying you hear, that “rules are made to be broken.” Often from headstrong people. Or maybe just selfish and flippant. But most of us know that most laws need to be followed for the good of everyone. If we don’t follow the rules, how can we expect others to do so? When we generally ignore our democratically made laws, chaos is the result.
General Douglas MacArthur is credited with popularizing “Rules are made to be broken.” He was our commanding general in the South Pacific in World War II, then in Korea, 1950, when communist North Korea invaded South Korea, our ally. MacArthur was a strong-willed, independent type, so when the invasion came he acted quickly without authorization. President Truman overlooked his technical violation because it saved South Korea from immediate disaster.
Later however, when China threw troops into the war—in spite of MacArthur’s predictions to the contrary—Mac wanted to carry the war into China with a full-scale invasion. He publicly disagreed, more than once, with the Commander in Chief, President Truman. So Truman fired him. That created a big hullaballoo in America, with most conservatives supporting MacArthur, a staunch Republican, being considered for a run against Truman in ‘52.
But MacArthur had earned strong dislike among more moderate people when he had attacked with tanks the encampments of bonus marcher-demonstrators in Washington, in 1932. He had disobeyed President Hoover’s orders and burned homes of marchers, who were seeking payment of bonuses from fighting in WWI. Hoover overlooked MacArthur’s insubordination.
Truman thought the Constitutional rule about the President being the Commander in Chief was too important to overlook. So, he had the courage to do what was unpopular, but right, according to most historians.
We’re in a similar spot today. Whether Donald Trump equals Douglas MacArthur in intellect or service to the nation, I’ll leave to others. But from his own words and the testimony of brave government employees, he has broken important laws and regulations. And while MacArthur had an ego equal to Mr. Trump’s, MacArthur’s actions were not taken for his own personal good, but arguably for the nation and our security.
Chief writer of the Constitution, James Madison famously said, “If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.” So they created the famous “checks and balances,” or equal branches of government, including the power of impeachment.
President Truman, a brave soldier himself in World War I, had the courage to not let the military take over the role of our duly elected government. He had seen what a disaster that was in Germany, Italy, and Russia, when dictatorships ruled. Unpretentious, in 1953 he stepped down from the Presidency and drove himself and his wife, Bess, back to Missouri, where he lived with no delusions of grandeur.
If only our elected Representatives and Senators—of both parties—could find some of the wisdom of Madison and the courage and humility of Truman, they could stand up to today’s bullies—whether in the White House or hiding in some political funding pac—and do the right thing about a leader who thinks the rules and laws don’t apply to him.
No one is above the law. We’re no angels, and need to follow the laws written for the good of all. Otherwise, our great republican democracy is in grave danger of becoming a dictatorship. It can happen here.