My mistake. Sorry for skimming that last post. When you said "simple morality," I thought you said "fundamental morality." My question still kinda stands. Just replace "fundamental" with "simple."
Quote:
You can't just say "some laws are immoral, so you can break any law if you can accept the punishment".
The most fundamental laws are based on simple morality. So it should be considered a moral act for someone to follow the law - and usually it is.
I feel kinda weird about universal morals, but I still think Martin Luther King Jr. has a good reply to that bit.
"One may well ask: 'How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?' The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that 'an unjust law is no law at all.'
Now, what is the difference between the two? How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust."
Prohibition of alcohol to young people is most degrading to human personality, and I would use the example of European countries having more lax alcoholic laws, and seemingly having less of an issue with underage drinking. If kids learn to drink responsibly at younger ages, whether through easing into moderate drinking, or even screwing up big time and learning why getting utterly crap is bad, then it will become less of problem as they age, and will be responsible as adults. I think it's a lot better for people to screw up at 16 than 21. Honestly, how much do you really learn from someone indirectly telling how something is, or when you directly learn for yourself from experience? In the end, it's only the things
you do that are real, that are important.