Government

I saw a story recently about a man in Frisco, Texas, who was ticketed for speeding.  Nine miles per hour over the posted limit.  There seems to be no disputing the facts of the matter, nor is it in question how the man felt about the infraction.  He paid the $212 ticket in pennies, brought to the ticket office in buckets labeled “Extortion money.”  He dumped the buckets at the payment window and left.  It took the workers there three hours to count and roll the coins.

What a jerk.

Turns out this guy is an activist, making as big a pain out of himself as possible in an effort to exercise his Constitutional rights.  He takes photos in front of government buildings and records the subsequent confrontations with law enforcement agents who, naturally, suspect he may be a terrorist.  Government is the problem, he believes, and resistance is the solution.

I confess, I don’t totally disagree with his philosophy.  I think we are surrendering our rights far too willingly and far too frequently.  I think government often exercises control simply to do so, not for any “greater cause.”  That said, I feel no obligation to hold government’s feet to the fire, as it were.  And eventually, resistance begins to violate the Biblical principles of submission outlined in Romans 13:7.  And that doesn’t even touch on all the “Love your neighbor” admonitions (Leviticus 19:18, etc.) violated by such boorish behavior.

And I think his speeding ticket had nothing to do with the First Amendment.  Just my judgment there.  Take it for what it’s worth.

It’s our Constitutional right as Americans to protest the government.  But let’s not use our efforts to be good citizens as excuses to be bad Christians.  After all, that’s where our true citizenship lies (Philippians 3:20).