Chris Hayes writes about how the common slogan regarding police violence against Blacks is, “Why don’t they just do what the cop says?” The tariff the Crown placed on the colonies was not unreasonable at all. It was the way they went about it that angered enough people to reach critical mass. Low taxes, too low, and evading tariffs via smuggling had been allowed to develop in the colonies just like people slipping across the border with Mexico without proper documents became a way of life for employers looking for good, cheap labor. Then when someone says, Hold up! This situation needs to be corrected, those benefitting from the situation cry foul.

Nevertheless, we are left with the simple fact that our ancestors, the subjects of the Crown, defied the law. Why didn’t they just obey it? They thought the law unreasonable. They could send their elected representative to England to plead their case just like the Black people in Ferguson could plead their case against unreasonable search and seizure. But the colonists had no representatives just as the Blacks in Ferguson and most other places do not have representation. The reasons for that are complex and require a knowledge of history and law, but our self-righteous folks crying, “Just do what the cop says” have no intention of understanding anything.