Speaking as someone who leans towards social activism, this is an important conversation to have. I believe society needs guardrails of all kinds. I don't beli

Speaking as someone who leans towards social activism, this is an important conversation to have. I believe society needs guardrails of all kinds. I don't believe, for example, that it should be legal for you and a few friends to drive onto the expressway in the morning and park your cars, blocking all traffic. But what if you want to protest something? Sometimes, the state hems you in, such that there is no legal way to effect change. For example, requiring a parade permit to march, and then denying it to some parties while granting it to others. That is easy, you just declare that parade permits shall not be granted for illegal purposes, and now nobody can march for marijuana legalization, or a woman's right to choose what happens to her own body. I don't think there is a neat way to set up laws so that everything always "just works." At some point, activism is going to require defiance. That's what happened with the Tea Party. But I don't think allowing people to dump goods in the harbour at will would make democracy better.