Quote #0
The United States is a nation of laws: badly written and randomly enforced.
Bernard De Voto
About This Quote
A sardonic observation about how a society can claim to be governed by law while still suffering from unclear statutes and inconsistent application of rules.
Interpretation
The line criticizes legal systems that rely on the prestige of “rule of law” rhetoric while tolerating sloppy drafting and uneven enforcement, implying that fairness and predictability are undermined.



