“It may be true that morality cannot be legislated, but behavior can be regulated. It may be true that the law can’t change the heart, but it can restrain the heartless. It may be true that the law can’t make a man love me, but it can restrain him from lynching me. And I think that’s pretty important also.”
It was 59 years ago that Dr. Martin Luther King spoke those words at a church in London.
And while the folks saying we can’t legislate morality can be found on both sides of the political spectrum, they are much more of a threat on the right side.
I admit to being a little bit biased on this, but the impression I have always had is that people on the left want to be left alone to live their lives the way they want. Those on the right — particularly the religious right — often seem to want everyone else to live by their morality.
I know that’s overly simplistic, but still …
The truly ridiculous part of it all is how much the religious right loves Donald Trump, who might possibly be the least moral man in present-day politics. Of course he gave them what they wanted most — three far right Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v Wade.
In the 2016 election, surveys showed that the No. 1 characteristic Trump voters wanted was someone who would govern as an authoritarian. In other words, someone who would tell people on the left what they could and couldn’t do.
Authoritarianism is a funny thing, though. Eventually, the people running things nearly always get around to the folks who put them in power.
I think most people are fairly tolerant of different behavior. They’re willing to allow folks who are different than they are to do their thing, as long as it doesn’t go on in public.
To refer to Dr. King’s comment at the beginning, they may not like those who are different, but they ought to leave them alone and not lynch them.