Is getting caught the only bad thing about
law-breaking?
Some people think we should do what we like as long as it is legal. This would
clearly indicate that the only thing bad about breaking the law is getting
caught. The only thing that matters is the rules and they only matter when and
after the law catches up with you and not before. What does the thought that we
may engage in any legal indulgence say? It says that you can be immoral as long
as the law does not punish you. It says that the only thing to be feared is
punishment and not doing wrong. That implies the law is about making rules and
nothing else. It is not about helping or benefitting society.
Yet society says, "The law is teacher. It shows you what actions are intolerable
because they hurt the innocent publicly. It shows who it protects. "