(Or as my colleague Dan Klein suggests I title this post: “Ignorance of the Law: An Excuse in Making It But Not in Complying with It?”)
…….
Dear Mr. Schieffer:
Interviewed on December 11th by Washington’s WTOP radio, you observed that “none of the senators really knows what’s in the health-care bill they’re debating.” (You then excused this ignorance by noting that “the problem they’re tackling is very complicated.”)
Here’s a question that I’d like you – as one of America’s most respected news analysts – to ask Sen. Reid and Speaker Pelosi: “If ignorance of the law is no excuse, and if this health-care bill becomes ‘law,’ will Congress excuse private citizens from the obligation to obey every new command and to pay every new tax specified in this health-care legislation?”
Surely ignorance of the law is an excuse – and a darn good one – for those whose actions run contrary to its commands if the ‘law’ is so long, wordy, and complicated that even the legislators who voted for it cannot read and comprehend it all.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
