There's an old Calvinist idea, very popular in the days of flinty New England puritanism that helps to explain why Americans launched their revolution against Britain and why there is today such a thing as American exceptionalism.It is the idea that “no one is better than me and I am no better than anyone else”.It could be argued that this could create mediocrity, but in fact it does the opposite.First it declares that all people deserve the same equality of opportunity and the same chance to be successful. That is the essence of the American dream.But in stating that “I am no better than anyone else”, it also maintains a degree of humility.It means: “I may be successful, I may hold important positions, but this does not automatically endow me with privileges and rights that are not available to others.”It was that point of view that made Americans rebel against the class-oriented British Empire and the idea of a monarch whose legitimacy was based on an accident of birth.But it's also why Americans can often seem rude and disrespectful to their supposed betters. There are no “betters” in America, and respect is undoubtedly earned.Bermuda has a streak of this as well, and it should be maintained rigidly in a community where, in fact, race and class did indeed endow privilege.So it is hardly surprising that when Premiers and Cabinet Ministers illegally park their Government cars, they are criticised for it.And it's why Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Senator Kim Wilson is likely to be criticised for her comments regarding a parking ticket her GP car received this week.Sen Wilson parked her car, which carried the GP030 licence plate, illegally on Church Street and received a parking ticket. A passerby alerted the newspaper to the fact, mainly out of happiness that no one is above the law.But Sen Wilson responded by saying she only received the ticket because her car had the GP030 licence plate. Had it been carrying a “normal” Cabinet plate (usually GP1 to about GP12, it would not have been ticketed, she said.“Normally, Ministers, as you probably know, do not receive parking tickets.”In fact, most people don't know that.There is an argument in favour of this, namely that Ministers are busy people with weighty responsibilities. They cannot always be expected to drive around trying to find a parking spot (or running out every hour to move their cars) when they are on the people's business.That may be so, but being a Cabinet Minister should not allow people to break laws, or at least not to go unpunished.That is especially so when Ministers, more than anyone else, make the laws. And this is an especially sensitive subject when Government just made it mandatory and rightly so for car owners to pay their parking tickets before they relicense their cars.Sen Wilson, who has built a reputation as a strong Cabinet Minister in a fairly short period of time, would have been better off saying that it was a “fair cop”, she was sorry, and would be paying the fine.Politicians sacrifice more than most people know in terms of family life and privacy. But that does not give them the right to ignore the laws they make.The best form of leadership is leadership by example.