I'm confused about the American Republican party

[Kevin]

I gave a nod to that idea. But, considering the above... As a parent, can you condone illegal activity?

Yes, though if I did it would also be accompanied with an explanation of why, and additional information on the other steps that are needed to make it legal. Laws are supposed to be living things in my mind. They are not things that should be created and then never ever changed again. If I feel a law is stupid or pointless or injust then yes I certainly will condone illegal activity.

It will also be used to teach how you try and change it, civilly. Since I grew up with a law that said you can drink as long as you are with your legal guardian and saw how this could foster responsible drinking (as well as all the examples of foreign countries that didn't and/or don't have legal drinking ages or ages that were/are much much lower than 21) I personally think that laws that are strict 21 years old before you can drink are not good laws and since I live in one of those states I try to get it changed and I would teach my children the responsible ways of trying to change that law, even while I would allow them to break it in my presence.

That means you follow it in public, because it is a law, but you don't just blindly accept it. If it doesn't make sense you should challenge it and since I also feel that what goes on in ones home, as long as it does not harm anyone else, is generally not the business of anyone who doesn't live there (there are exceptions, there always are). I would allow my children to drink in my home if I were with them but they would not leave the house while under the influence of alcohol because societal law has jurisdiction then. I would also make it clear that my purchasing of and allowing them to drink the alcohol was illegal. That if they, say, disturbed the peace by being overly loud and the police showed up at my door, that I would accept and suffer the consequences of breaking the law by allowing minors to have alcohol since there would be more than one law being broken.

That certainly can lead to a slippery slope, I'm very much aware of that because I also know that it's very likely the child would not fully comprehend all of my actions. I also realize that not all humans have the same level of responsibility, and heck one persons level of responsibility can change daily. It opens doors, but there are ways to deal with that too.

I know I don't follow every law to the letter. That means by example I'm condoning illegal behavior. The most common is that I speed pretty much every time I drive a car on highways or interstates, very rarely in town though. The reason being is that I know the cars I, and 95% of the other motorists, drive are much safer than they were in 1973 when the 55 MPH speed limit was implemented. Most cars on the road as less than 10 years old (the average age in 2011 was 10.2 years which was the highest it's been since 95), so even the changes in the early 2000's that upped several speed limits are likely lagging technology. I do think speed limits are a good idea on most roads (some roads are in good enough condition and have traffic flows where they don't make sense or should be around 100MPH). So yes I write my lawmakers trying to get them to raise highway limits. Limits in cities and towns have more to do with human reaction time to be able to deal with pedestrians, visibility, etc and there aren't nearly the safety improvements to protect people that might be hit by a car (there are some but they are not widespread). As I get older I speed less often and to a lower magnitude because I know my reactions and attention aren't as good as they used to be.

Of course I also think it's important to teach why laws are the way they are, and if you can't then that might be a good reason to question it. I doubt many people really think about why speed limits in towns are often 25. They've never had it explained to them or bothered to think about it. Sure most people if they do think about it will get it, but like most things in life it's easier for most people to follow rules if they understand why those rules are there even if they don't agree with them.

Anyway I'm rambling.