https://abovethelaw.com/2019/06/kell...t-rule-of-law/
most people, most of the time, follow the law, for no reason other than it happens to be the law. We don’t run red lights even when nobody is around, we don’t piss in the elevator, we don’t maliciously defame our enemies, we don’t solicit prostitution, we don’t leave the restaurant without paying our bill, we don’t cosh random black people in London. We follow laws we don’t even agree with. We follow laws that cost us time, money, and effort. We live in a free country and yet we follow totally stupid and unenforceable laws all the time. Why? It’s a tenuous thing. We follow the law because we imagine other people are also following the law and we perceive it’s in our societal self-interest for them to do so. We follow the law because we want other people to follow the law, and we don’t want to be the ones to ruin it for everybody.