Two examples—a Muslim man saying he can’t cope with women who are not dressed in burkas because the sight of them is too much tempation. And the couple squatting outside a Federal Courthouse and promising to stay until Trump is assasinated. My reply to these people, “That sounds like a you problem.”
These two line up in my mind—certain Muslims who have adopted an extreme, legalist frame to the practice of their faith and the small, noisy crowd who protest and cry-bully us becase we don’t use reusable grocery bags, among other sins. Both of these demand that we, and God, behave in a manner soothing to them. Damned the consequences to the rest of us. The result? Rebellion and crime.
Rebellion and crime are not most people. Most people follow the law to the best of their ability. Most people are good, most Muslims are good. They lead quiet lives never behaving in a way that would generate clicks or the attention of the authorities. I don’t write about most people.
Stop Saying, “Most People” You Hateful Racist Apostate MAGA Traitor!
I write about malcontents who grab attention. They shout extreme claims for notice. A Muslim declares, “Muhamed is The Way!” It works for some, not all. Their way isn’t everyone’s path. Some progressives shout apocalyptic doom at us if even one car is on the road. That car will be the death of all of us, they shout.
The Muslim continues, “I’m a Muslim Prophet!” He lives on grasshoppers in a tunic. “Your life’s a mess without Muhammad.” Mao’s Cultural Revolution promised freedom. It brought genocide and misery instead. Imperial China died to be replaced by a shadow of the former empire.
Berkeley’s 1980s scene turned Savio’s free speech protest into absurdity. They demanded free weed and docile women. Somehow Women’s Liberation morphed into zipless fucks and more constraints on them. Public blowjobs became a “right.” HIV/AIDS took them to early graves. More laws failed to fix it.
History’s Lessons
Look at history. The Roman Empire thrived on law—its Twelve Tables set a standard for justice—yet it crumbled under overreach and rebellion. Another example is The Spartacus uprising that began in 73BCE. In medieval Europe, the Church’s legalistic grip sparked the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 when taxes and tithes became unbearable. Even in Maoist China, the Cultural Revolution’s strict legalism led to chaos as dissenters fought back, not conformed. Each time, piling on laws beyond reason didn’t tame society—it ignited it. The pattern’s clear: when legalism oversteps, it creates the very opposition it seeks to crush.
Today, this plays out online. Social media amplifies the malcontents—think of the influencers preaching legalistic purity, whether it’s WOKE dogma or radical religious edicts. A viral tweet from last week (June 2025) claimed, “True justice means enforcing every WOKE principle, or you’re complicit.” Another from a self-proclaimed cleric demanded followers shun all but their strict interpretation of Sharia. These voices get clicks, but they also draw law enforcement when they cross lines—hate speech cases spiked 15% in the U.S. this year, per recent web data. The more laws tighten, the more people push back, from peaceful protests to underground movements.
What About the MAGA King Trump?
Many point to Trump as their Antichrist, believing if we just get rid of MAGA and him, we’ll be fine. But Trump isn’t the cause—he’s a symptom of a larger shift in society. MAGA’s rise reflects a rejection of two extremes: the libertine “do whatever” chaos of unchecked freedom and the authoritarian “obey or else” bullying of legalistic frameworks like WOKE dogma. Young folks are showing up at revivals because the way of the dissident Nazarene stone mason still works where extreme freedom or extreme control fails.
Extreme freedom leads to the Berkeley absurdities of the ‘80s. The Berkeley Hotel (gone) and People’s Park is the site of student housing under construction. It took 55 years for UC Berkeley to clear all the legal hurdles and activism. Over half a century of stubborn radicalism demanding a permanent claim on land that was owned by UC Berkeley. So that music, weed and outdoor sex could have a place near campus. Because that’s what extreme freedom demanded. The ghost of Mario Savio moved on.
At the other end, extreme control fuels resentment and rebellion. Every overreach in history showed us this. What’s next isn’t clear, but it won’t be either of those poles. I’d bet on a middle ground—one that values personal responsibility and community over imposed rules or reckless liberty. The pendulum is swinging and it’s up to us to find balance.
Personal Growth Over Enforced Rules
My own life taught me laws have limits. Driving a cab, I saw rules keep order. Down here in the mean streets compliance with law clashed with local culture and ethics. We have freedom of speech enshrined in our constitution. Insult someone’s parents among the wrong crowd or under the wrong circumstances. Ditto insulting Allah or Muhamed in the company of some Muslims. Last example, misgendering someone in the presence of trans-people who could take offense. The constitution won’t protect you.
What has protected me over the years is grace. It’s not new, doesn’t come in an online class you can subscribe to, or arrive in a bottle of elixir. It is a habit you build through discipline and practice. My faith, the work of Albert Ellis and Daniel Goleman, and some friends at church were my teachers. Framing anger as an addiction and using Celebrate Recovery’s Eight Steps gave me a 道 way of life anchored in Christ.
Those steps—admitting powerlessness, seeking accountability—weren’t laws imposed from above but tools for inner change. Mercy and grace, not legalism, saved my life. Age has shrunk my world, forcing me to evaluate what’s essential. Spiritual disciplines like prayer and reflection now anchor me, and I encourage my son and younger folks to step up, not conform to some external code.
The Yin-Yang Reality
God made a world of 陰 and 陽—light and dark, order and chaos. I was taught that when Christ returns, it’ll be pure light, no evil. Heaven on Earth. I don’t know about that. A utopia with only half of God’s creation seems incomplete. Darkness and pain have their place. I believe our understanding of heaven is limited. God, though, is unlimited. 1 Cor 13:12, “ For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known,”
So the heaven I imagine is more interesting than a gazillion angels in a choir singing, “How Great Thou Art“. It’s “compound, complex” to paraphrase my son’s Mom. Mayhaps absurd to us in our linear time, binary frame. It isn’t more laws impossible to obey. Christ told us he came to fulfill the law. His Way of fulfilling the law is what made him scandalous.
But until then, more laws won’t erase the tension—they’ll amplify it. Legalism assumes we can legislate compliance. Ok, legalists, what definition of compliance and what if the target of your legislation fails to comply? What is the crime and what should the consequences be? It’s been over two decades since I hit my son’s Mom? Am I still only that horrible moment? And if you say so, who is chained to the past, you or me?
A Vision of Grace
I hope when I cross over, Christ isn’t waiting at the gates with a ledger of laws. I’d rather find Him in a Roman Popina, wine in hand, snacks on the table, surrounded by friends. He’ll look at me and say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” That’s the faith I breathe, born 442 years after Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the Castle Church door in Wittenberg on October 31, 1517.
Luther’s act unleashed an earthquake, challenging the Church’s legalism and birthing a Protestant world where personal relationship with Christ and accountability matter more than collective sin. The legalism that is problematic demands we bend to the will of broken people, not to God. It is a rare human who can lead with the wisdom of Soloman. Even rarer is a leader who is without sin.
Demanding a large group adhere to a code of behavior with 100% compliance is doomed to fail. History is rife with stories of kings who wrote laws that engendered defiance and cheating instead of a better kingdom. So, Ms. Woke True Folk, legalism can’t save us—it fuels the fire of rebellion instead.
Moving Forward
So what’s the answer? More grace instead of more laws. More Luther and less Mao fandom. Encourage personal growth, not enforced conformity. History, my cab rides, and my recovery journey all say the same: when we focus on our own hearts—our 陰 and 陽—we build a better world than any statute ever could. I’ll keep writing, not for clicks from malcontents, but to light a spark for those seeking a way out of the legalistic trap. Maybe my son will read this one day and step up, not because I forced him, but because he saw grace in action. That’s the hope that keeps me going.