"To violate the law, is to trample on the blood of his father, and to tear the character of his own, and his children's liberty."

In Address to the Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois, Lincoln makes clear his deep respect and belief in the rule of law. The beauty of law, he implies, is not just as a guardian of citizen from the evils of government, but also the guardian of citizen from the evils of his fellow citizen.

He concedes that there are indeed "bad" laws that exist, but adds "still while they continue in force, for the sake of example, they should be religiously observed."

I agree with Lincoln's assertions here in full, and find it personally troubling that many of our current political leaders do not seem to share Lincoln's beliefs. The primary example of this would be the Bush administration's so called warrent-less wiretap program.

The laws are too restrictive, say administration defenders, and this warrants the outright breaking of those laws in order to protect the homeland. Lincoln, however, would argue that the cavalier disregard for the rule of law is but the first step in the unraveling of liberty itself, despite the intentions of doing so.

Reason, cold, calculating, unimpassioned reason, must furnish all the materials for our future support and defence. Let those materials be moulded into general intelligence, sound morality and, in particular, a reverence for the constitution and laws...