Rules and Laws and Their Importance

 Dear Friends,

I want to share with you some thoughts on rules and laws.  In one political meeting a man who was once president of a Republican men's club asked why Robert's Rules existed.  Later a new precinct chair asked why we vote on rules in our County Party Organizational Meeting.  These are good practical questions, but there is a very deep connection between rules, laws, and the core of our American culture.

Our Laws and Our Culture

Our culture is rooted in English culture, which produced the Magna Carta in 1215:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magna_Carta

This was an attempt to limit the power of the king, a big step forward in our culture.  Then in 1644 Samuel Rutherford wrote "Lex Rex", https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lex,_Rex, which used "arguments from Scripture, Natural Law and Scottish law to attack absolutism and defend the rule of law."

In America in 1620, before the Pilgrims landed they wrote and signed the Mayflower Compact.  As President Calvin Coolidge wrote, "The compact which they signed was an event of the greatest importance. It was the foundation of liberty based on law and order, and that tradition has been steadily upheld" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayflower_Compact).

In 1838 Abraham Lincoln delivered his famous Lyceum Speech (http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/lyceum.htm).  There he said that our nation can commit suicide, but he gives us a path to save our nation.  Here is his advice for saving America:  "The answer is simple. Let every American, every lover of liberty, every well wisher to his posterity, swear by the blood of the Revolution, never to violate in the least particular, the laws of the country; and never to tolerate their violation by others."

Notice the importance Lincoln placed on following our laws.  Now let's talk about rules.

The Importance of Rules

The English Parliament is very old and over hundreds of years the rules of Parliamentary Procedure were written in order to conduct business in an orderly fashion.  Lawmakers follow rules in the process of writing laws.  Robert's Rules of Order is a compilation of parliamentary procedures used across America in civic and social clubs.

The Adoption of Rules

When a legislative body first convenes, the first thing it does is to establish its rules for conducting business.  When the Constitutional Convention met, in Philadelphia on May 25, 1787, Charles Pinckney made a motion that a committee be appointed to "draw up rules to be observed as the standing Orders of the Convention."  [1]

After the Constitution was written it needed to be ratified.  In the Virginia Ratifying Convention, in Richmond, on June 3, 1788, John Tyler observed that "rules and regulations should be established to govern the convention."  Then there was a resolution made and passed:  "Resolved, That the rules and orders for conducting business in the House of Delegate, so far as the same may be applicable to the Convention, be observed therein." [2]

When a new deliberative body first meets after the election that selected the members, that body is new and needs to adopt rules for conducting business.  In the same way that the delegates to the Virginia Ratifying Convention decided to use rules that already existed in their Legislature, many deliberative bodies usually pick the last set of rules and continue using them.

When significant changes to the rules are made, voting members must make sure that the rule changes do not cheat them.  Precinct chairs in Collin County must know Robert's Rules of Order and the party rules in order to spot bad changes to the rules and to recognize when our party leadership doesn't follow the rules.

Summary

Our laws are a vital part of American and English history.  Our county and our culture depend on the rule of law.  Abraham Lincoln said that we should "swear by the blood of the Revolution, never to violate in the least particular, the laws of the country."

Lawmakers follow rules in their process of creating laws.  Precinct chairs should learn parliamentary procedure and the making of resolutions and speeches in order to learn how our legislature works.

Rules and laws are an important part of our culture, but sadly they are neglected.  Precinct chairs need to pay very close attention when the time comes to debate the rule changes that were postponed until after the November Midterm Elections.

We should all realize that the English system and philosophy of laws are an important part of our heritage, and part of the magic that makes America great.

Thank you for your patience.

Robert

References

1.  The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, Vol. 1, edited by Max Farrand, Yale University Press, 1966, page 2.

2.  The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution, Vol. 3, edited by Jonathan Elliot, Jazzybee Verlag Jurgen Beck, Loschberg, Deutschland, page 2.

There is a free online version

https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/elliot-the-debates-in-the-several-state-conventions-5-vols