In totalitarian societies, the law is beside the point. Laws are written in such a away that compliance is completely impossible for most or all citizens. This gives the state leverage over the population because citizens can always be counted on to be doing *something* illegal at any time, and the threat of a prison sentence can be used to get them to do things they ordinarily wouldn't do, e.g. turn in a family member or friend, cover up goverment miss-steps, kill or torture etc. If you wonder why I am so adamently opposed to "Wars on $metaphore", it's because they often bear a striking resemblence to this idea. The War on Drugs has some prime examples, but the War on Terror is not without it's charm in this area.
Governements did not invent this idea though. The stole it whole cloth from religion.
Here's a great example of the idea that we all have "orginial sin" and therefore must subect ourselves to the Church to make it right with the gods.
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