The United States Code is “a consolidation and codification by subject matter of the general and permanent laws of the United States,” and is produced in a Main Edition hard copy every six years. The most recent edition, produced in 2018, is approximately 60,000 pages long and takes up 54 volumes as prepared by the Office of the Law Revision Counsel.
To compare, the National Constitution Center produces a letter-sized version of the Constitution of the United States and all the Amendments to it, and this takes up a paltry 17 pages. In less than two weeks, on Saturday, Sept. 17, we’ll celebrate the 235th anniversary of the signing of the Constitution, and somehow in two-plus centuries we’ve added 3,500 times the number of pages in new laws. In other words, we’ve added an average of 15 new Constitutions and all Amendments every year since the original.
Which is why I’m amused when people use the number of new laws passed as a measuring stick to rate our elected representatives. When I find those rare elected members who have introduced no new legislation, or even better, caused some existing laws to be deleted, I know I’ve found a kindred spirit.
However, some of those laws do serve a purpose. One of the sections of our U.S. Code – Title 5, Part III, Subpart E, Chapter 61, Subchapter I, § 6103, to be specific (or 5 USC 6103 in shorthand) – concerns holidays, and lists the 11 legal public holidays of the federal government. As you are likely aware, yesterday was Labor Day, one of those holidays. Ever since June 28, 1894 when President Grover Cleveland signed the law, we have been taking the first Monday in September as a national holiday.
For many — though not all — of us, that means we had a three-day weekend. Even Penn State holds no classes on Labor Day. And judging from the amount of vehicles we saw on the highways on Friday, it appears many people took an extra vacation day and made it an extended four-day weekend.
Labor Day weekend means many things to many people. The traditional start of fall – no wearing white clothing (except at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 22!). The beginning of fall sports seasons – college football for one. The chance to catch up on yard work in preparation for a family or neighborly cookout. Cookouts which, if we planned them on Labor Day, unfortunately got washed out by the near-constant rain.
But at least we got a full slate of televised college football games on Saturday with plenty of options for hours on end. Which means we got a serious dose of Jake. You know Jake – the guy in the red shirt with the three-circle logo who sounded hideous a few years ago but is now like a good neighbor.
That’s right, like a good neighbor (yes, we know who is there).
As far as the business side of Jake is concerned, at one time I did use Jake’s company. But as far as the neighborly side of Jake is concerned, I’d like to think I’ve been a good neighbor during my life. As a kid I had a paper route through our neighborhood, so was both a neighbor and vendor. In college, I lived on a dorm floor in close proximity with 30 other guys. In apartments, I lived above, below and between others. And then in homes I’m back to where I started as a kid – just with much more green space between the houses.
Each living environment brings different levels of neighborliness and what it means to be a good neighbor. Noise, animals, vehicles, trash, landscape maintenance, exterior upkeep, sociability, helpfulness and many other criteria are on the list of what people look for in good neighbors. Some of these things are even codified into laws since mere etiquette doesn’t always work. And lest you think etiquette is not important, here’s what Miss Manners has to say on the subject:
The law is what protects… you from killing each other. Etiquette is what requires you to refrain from everything else you can think of to make that person’s life miserable.
So how are we doing as a country? Are we like a good neighbor? Even more to Mister Rogers point (not the Rodgers rate), are we the type of people who get asked, “Please won’t you be my neighbor?”
It appears we are, although maybe just barely. The Pew Research Center conducted a survey in 2018 that asked Americans about aspects of our neighborly relations. 26% of the respondents said they know all or most of their neighbors and 57% say they know some of their neighbors. So it appears a majority of us are at least making an effort to know those who live near us.
Perhaps an even more telling statistic is that 58% of U.S. adults said they have a neighbor they would ask to keep a set of keys to their home for emergencies. That’s a good degree of trustworthiness from a majority of us. Although that statistic has a caveat: Only 48% of urban residents are that trustworthy, whereas 62% of suburban and 61% of rural residents are comfortable with their neighbor having keys to their home.
In terms of communication, among those of us who know at least some of our neighbors, 25% have face-to-face conversations every day or several times a week. Another 24% have conversations about once a week, and an additional 21% have them about once a month. That means well over half of all of us are having conversations with our neighbors at least once a month – many much more than that. Which is impressive if you consider that if you have a busy life it’s easy for a month to go by without noticing it. Don’t believe it? College football bowl games will be here before you know it!
And that communication can be a very healthy thing as well. Over the weekend I was doing some of that landscape maintenance and exterior upkeep that keeps you in good stead with your neighbors. Some of this maintenance required me to use our 24-foot extension ladder. At one point our across-the-street neighbor Steve Erdley and I started talking and, being the good neighbor he is, he offered the use of his tools that allowed me to only use a step-ladder, which he then held. The job got done safely and soundly through the generosity of a good neighbor. That’s a wonderful thing.
So, as we work our way through this fall football season wearing our team colors and enjoying countless hours of college and professional football on television, perhaps whenever ubiquitous Jake makes his appearance on our screens shilling for you-know-who, maybe we can all internalize our own neighborly tagline, “Like a good Jake, neighbors are there!”
