-- by Horatio Algeranon
When Moral Law tests Penal
The Moral mostly loses
For Penal can be venal
And Moral flat refuses
"Moral" in the sense of "adherence to higher principles"* eg, universal human rights like "life",
"liberty", "equality", "justice",
"peace", "freedom" (of speech, of "information" {scientific knowledge, about decisions and actions of public officials, etc}, to assemble, from unwarranted search and seizure, from fear, to be safe in one's home,
from torture and other inhuman and/or degrading treatment, from arbitrary arrest and detention,
etc).
*"Post-Conventional level" in Lawrence Kohlberg's "stages of moral development"
The "Moral" does not always lose (Martin Luther King, Jr. and Gandhi are notable examples to the contrary) but usually, it does.
In the United States, even the Constitution (and amendments including the "Bill of Rights" and treaties to which the US is signatory), which codifies many of the "higher principles" and is supposed to be the highest law of the land, is sometimes disregarded by the very folks who have taken an oath to uphold it.
