# law-abiding citizens (deserving)

*Ordinarily means:* members of the public who obey the law and pay their way, named as the ones policy should serve

A collective self that narrows its boundary to members who keep its rules and give its government their taxes, reading those who do not as outside it.

- Computed level: L19 (depth in the emergence graph, not abstraction)
- Status: published  ·  Domain: agency

## Emergence
**Emerges from:** [collective self](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-collective-self.shared), [boundary](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-boundary.limit), [rules](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-rules.social), [tax](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-tax.economic), [keep](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-keep.maintenance), [out-group](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-out-group.outside), [narrow](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-narrow.spatial), [member](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-member.social), [give](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-give.transfer), [government](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-government.administrative), [read](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-read.information), [outside](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-outside.spatial)

**Through:** Membership is made to depend on keeping a condition the group names, so the boundary is set by conduct and the group's protection follows only those who meet it.

**Novel properties:**
- membership earned by conduct
- protection read as owed only inside the kept rule

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*Canonical: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-law-abiding-citizens.deserving*  
*Structured data: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-law-abiding-citizens.deserving.json*  
*Every definition provably resolves to space, time, energy and pattern.*