I don't think anyone does, saying "x is illegal/legal" just lets them obfuscate their actual desires. Nobody calls the police on themselves because they did something illegal and it would be moral for them to be punished according to their own ethical code, they call police on people they want punished when they have a convenient justification.

Conversely if someone is driving 5mph down a street, and just says "its not against the law, I have every right" as if that was a reason, they're simply too much of a coward to admit their actual antisocial motivation.

Legalism is stupid.

Always hit them with the slavery card.

"but it's legal!" so was slavery.

"but that's illegal!" so was assisting escaped slaves

A little hard to argue against slavery being immoral.

Whether they can connect the dots and do the right thing from a morality standpoint is up to them.

A little hard to argue against slavery being immoral.

In today's political climate, I'm not so sure anymore.

The problem there is "presentism". People have this tendency to see the present as somehow different or more real than past historical events. Slavery will be bundled with the Spanish inquisition in their mind as old things from before times. Before we had our modern thinking. They can mentally compartmentalize slavery. Maybe Jim Crowe would be a better example since there are still people alive today who remember it. Women in the US weren't generally allowed to get a credit card or bank account in their own name until 1974.

AI is the new shiny reflector that laws enrich the bourgeoisie, and not proletariat.

I've met someone who argued that people who helped free slaves deserved to be imprisoned - not even being freed after slaves were freed - because breaking the law is always bad even if the law is bad.

The conversation had started him supporting old marijuana possession charges still being punished even after marijuana was legalized. I had thought comparing it to slave freeing charges would help put it in perspective, but he doubled down.

if you want to live in a society you should abide by the rules. thats the foundation most judicial systems are build apon. legal and illegal should ideally represent, what the public wants and doesnt want. if you follow the rules of society you contribute, which is good for the society. if you dont you are working kinda (depends of course) against society, at the very least not contributing.

Legality is a system designed independently of the will of the people.

Rules as decided on and agreed to by people in their community are fine, the state legal system is not.

in most systems the representatives are held to the will of the people. how effective that is is another question, but I think in general these kinds of systems result in laws, that represent the will of the people, or at least the will of the people 20 years ago, since judicial systems usually are slow

No they are not. Representative democracy is a sham. Just look at the global support for Gaza and the will of representatives.

Representative democracy is a tool of the elite to fool people into thinking they have a say, when it strips them of all power and gives them a meaningless crum every X years to have a fraction of a voice to choose one person to represent all their issues.

Anything short of direct democracy is not a democracy.

makes false claim<
'whether or not that claim was false is another question'

maybe the us is, because there are too many degrees if seperation, but there are others that do it like that and it works.
direct democracy is not the solution, politians being held accountable and education is the solution IMHO.

just because it doesnt work in the us doesnt mean it can't work ;)

There are others that do it better than the US, none that do it well.

Direct Democracy is the only true democracy, representatives will never and can never represent every constituent only they themselves can.

i think you're underestimating the stupidity of the public honestly. there are so many emotional topics, that regular folks dont understand the consequences of. I think having full time politicians can be the right way, if done well. they would be pros at legislature, not in corruption, like it is today.