[ellery]

Is it honestly your position that all laws exist for a valid reason (and not because of pandering politicians, special interests, power grabs, p*ssing contests, etc)? Politicians pass laws because they can. Some are valid, some are not. But using the existence of the law to justify the law is faulty reasoning, imo.

[_Jim]

Is it honestly your position that all laws exist for a valid reason

Where did you get the idea they were?

My big contention is that 'laws' exist, IN LARGE PART, as a result of AND FOR THE CONTINUED protection of 'the stupid' and the stupid acts they 'pull' in society.

Now, BEAR IN MIND the qualifying phrase 'IN LARGE PART', since, there is a criminal element ever-present for which we must have some statutes on the books to deal with (ALTHOUGH if we were to properly ARM ourselves the 'criminal' ranks might be substantially reduced in size due to 'attrition' doled out by the law-abiding citizenry on the spot during attempted robberies and the like).