America–in fact, no nation–can insist that others follow the rules of the road if we refuse to follow them ourselves. For when we don’t, our actions appear arbitrary and undercut the legitimacy of future interventions, no matter how justified.

President Obama (via azspot)

That’s a curious metaphor, that. “Rules of the road”. When you think about it laws and regulations pertaining to the use of roadways - speed limits, decibel limits on vehicles in travel, the directive to stop and wait at red lights, the directive not to use shoulder lanes for travel,  the directive not to cross particular lane markings, prohibitions on accessories that tend to strongly draw the attention of other drivers - you realize that the flouting of these is understood as specific, normal, and proper to the very vehicles and drivers tasked with their enforcement, supplemented with sumptuary laws specifically intended to distinguish them.

Sovereign is he who decides on the exception.