Word: scofflaws
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Such rebellions might also be called nascent anarchy. Authority in the east, ubiquitous until the revolution, has all but disappeared, and what is left is ineffectual. The scofflaw is pervasive. Drivers in newly purchased Mercedes and Audis routinely ignore speed limits even when overtaking the rare police vehicle. One reason for the lack of law enforcement is that eastern policemen are unfamiliar with the federal laws now in effect. The problem is compounded by a lack of manpower: thousands of police quit their jobs before unification or were dismissed because of party or Stasi connections...
...ways of bikers. In Los Angeles, state and county planners are even contemplating a 2 1/2-mile-long overhead bikeway that would rise above the congested streets around UCLA. But the real culprit on American roads, as conspicuous among cars, cabs and trucks as among cyclists, is an arrogant, scofflaw spirit that sends vehicles -- those with four as well as two wheels -- streaking through red lights and stop signs, just as it tempts pedestrians into habitual jaywalking...
...scofflaw spirit is pervasive. It is not really surprising when schools find, as some do, that children frequently enter not knowing some of the basic rules of living together. For all their differences, today's scofflaws are of a piece as a symptom of elementary social demoralization-the loss by individuals of the capacity to govern their own behavior in the interest of others...
...Wagon: "Lawbreaking proved to be not painful, not even uncomfortable, but, in a mild and perfectly safe way, exhilarating." People wiped out Prohibition at last not only because of the alcohol issue but because scofflawry was seriously undermining the authority and legitimacy of government. Ironically, today's scofflaw spirit, whatever its undetermined origins, is being encouraged unwittingly by government at many levels. The failure of police to enforce certain laws is only the surface of the problem; they take their mandate from the officials and constituents they serve. Worse, most state legislatures have helped subvert popular compliance with...
...most disquieting thing about the scofflaw spirit is its extreme infectiousness. Only a terminally foolish society would sit still and allow it to spread indefinitely...