Citizens in a Nation of Laws

By John Bandler

In a nation of laws, the voting citizenry needs to understand law and our system of government, appreciate it, and vote for it. Law cannot be just for lawyers, otherwise citizenry are easily subject to influence, persuasion, and manipulation.

Citizens need a foundation of knowledge to try assess things such as:

  • What are the merits and justifications for that arrest, police use of force, prosecution, dismissal, or pardon?
  • What are the merits and justifications for that military use of force?
  • Was that activity by certain individuals a lawful protest, or criminal activity? (consider for example 1/6/2021, whose anniversary is tomorrow)
  • Was that government action and use of force in another sovereign country lawful, and under what laws? (consider US action in Venezuela)
  • Was that government use of force resulting in death in international waters lawful? (consider US boat strikes)
  • Was that government pressure or threat relating to the speech and expression of a comedian, or entire news organization, lawful?
  • Was that government action that benefits that government official personally lawful? Was it ethical?
  • What happens if voters accept or excuse lawless behavior from government officials?

The judicial process is just one part of government, and it cannot be expected to save a country. It is not enough to have lawyers who simply represent opposite sides, with those individual issues then decided by judges. Court cases are slow and lawyers and judges are humans, imperfect like everyone else. There will always be a lawyer to represent any side and forcefully advocate for it. Judges can be persuaded (that is what each side's lawyer tries to do). Judges can be influenced. Some judges might even have their own political opinions -- or even beyond an opinion and possess political or personal bias.

A nation of laws allows citizens to vote, and those voters need to exercise this important responsibility with special diligence. A diligent voter needs to understand enough about law, and obtain enough facts, to assess whether a candidate supports the rule of law or is a danger to it.

My resources, including on YouTube

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Disclaimer

As always, this is not legal or consulting advice. And I'm not trying to tell anyone how to vote, just suggesting we should vote for candidates who believe in law, follow the law, and are ethical. These are just thoughts on how we can improve our process and thinking, which would benefit our country too.

Additional information reading

This article is hosted at https://johnbandler.com/citizens-in-a-nation-of-laws. Copyright John Bandler, all rights reserved.

This article is also available (though not kept as up to date) on Medium at https://medium.com/@johnbandler/citizens-in-a-nation-of-laws-5afd41b28bbe and Substack at https://johnbandler.substack.com/p/citizens-in-a-nation-of-laws

Posted 01/05/2026. Updated 01/05/2026.