We as human beings don't like rules.
Article I, section 8 of the U.S. Constitution lays out the scope of congressional power. This particular section is long, but it is one sentence.
James Madison, in Federalist Paper #41, explains why the line items in this section describe in detail, or "flesh out" more generic terms like "general welfare". In other words, Congress can spend money on the general welfare and here are the line items. For instance, Congress can declare war, Congress can establish post offices, Congress can establish and maintain a navy.
But after 214 years, one month and two days (since the Constitution was ratified), Congress now spends money on Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, Education, Meals on Wheels, and lo and behold, our unfunded liabilities (to be paid by my kids and their children) are now in excess of $123 trillion dollars "Conservatives" and "liberals" refer to the Constitution but don't obey it. The Republican House, Senate and President Bush passed Medicare Part D in November of 2003, and this program alone has already generated an unfunded liability of more than $21 trillion (to be paid by kids and their children).
http://www.usdebtclock.org/What do maintaining a navy, James Madison and post offices have to do with the sexual abuse and torture of children? We don't like rules, and the fewer the rules, and the fewer the consequences for disobeying the rules........people end up doing whatever the heck they want to do.
New Tribes missionaries.....they weren't ignorant of local laws. John Enns once told my dad he should only drive 80 km. per hour because that was the posted speed limit on many Brazilian highways. So, for the next 21 years in Brazil my dad drove 80 km. per hour. We liked it when Mom drove because those 8 cylinders in the Dodge Dart seemed to say, "Let my people go", and when the Hindman, Kentucky, native took the wheel....let's just say that the Daniel Boone and dirt track racing genes kicked in, and John Enns could go jump in a lake. I remember driving my maternal grandmother, years later, from Hindman, KY, (pop. 782) to the big city of Knoxville, TN. The first 80 miles....on highway 80 and the Daniel Boone (now renamed for congressperson who is in charge of appropriations) parkway....playing frogger with coal trucks. But when I turned left on Interstate 75, son of NTM missionary dutifully set the cruise control to 65 miles per hour obeying the posted speed limit even though John Enns was living in Mississippi. My grandmother inquired as to my cruise control setting, and when I responded that I had set it at the speed limit, she retorted, "But I have business in Knoxville today." Her target, as she had explained to grandpa, was the courthouse to pay property taxes (which could be mailed). A side trip to JC Penney at the mall also occurred spontaneously. So, son of missionary father, but also grandson of the DAR grandmother (I believe that makes/made me a Child of the American Revolution...or CAR, which brings me back to my story), dutifully ramped up the speed to speed limit plus 10 percent (aren't we supposed to give 10%), plus more when you know the troopers have no place to hide, plus a little more while in Kentucky....because that's where your uncles and aunts are licensed to practice law.......you know, I did enjoy supper at Cracker Barrel on the way back.
So tribers knew speed limits. They scoffed at Clayton Templeton for using the black market to exchange money....then called him to get plane tickets through Monark...and a wad of cash.
Rules are convenient when judging others, but can easily be bent, especially when consequences seem distant (or when it doesn't look like the state trooper has enough room to hide in the next straightaway).
But imagine if you're a pedophile working for a mission that doesn't "involve local authorities", working for a mission that places a higher value on "another man's ministry" than on protecting children from sexual abuse and a lifetime of mental, emotional, physical, spiritual torture? If you're that pedophile....there are no state troopers, only scaredycat, powerhungry field committee and executive committee types who will delight in nailing an adulterer with the scarlet letter, but will go to the mat to protect a pedophile. Because if you come out and report that you have dozens of pedophiles working for you, if you report that the pedophilia has been covered up for decades......your "my christian organization" image may dry up faster than mop water on a 120 degree day, and then, pooof....no more money to buy food. Was it the Israelites that sacrificed their children to appease false gods? Was it the Israelites that ate their children while their city was being besieged. Or am I confusing that with a Ken Johnston reel-to-reel?