Essays of blupete: Law & Politics (Now Available)
The subjects dealt with in this book, are Liberty, Law, Rights, Democracy, Government. They are subjects with which all freedom loving citizens (especially those in the fields of politics and journalism) should concern themselves.
Essay No. 1 - “On Liberty”:
In a speech to the Virginia Convention, on June the
16th, 1788, James Madison said: “I believe there are
more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the
people by gradual and silent encroachments of those
in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.”
Lurking dangers to our liberty exist, not only to
“insidious encroachment,” but, as Louis D. Brandeis,
pointed out, after echoing Madison’s view, the greatest
danger exists in “men of zeal, well-meaning but without
understanding.” More dangerous, still, is for the
rest of us to fall asleep ...
Essay No. 2 - “The Law”:
Law is a body of rules, whether proceeding from formal
enactment or from custom, which a particular state
or community recognizes as binding on its members
or subjects. A question however arises. On whose
authority are these rules to be law? Prior to the 18th
century it was on the authority of a divinely appointed
king; during the 18th and 19th centuries in England it
was on the authority of the landed aristocracy; in the
20th century it has been the people, in fact, I submit,
the politicians who “manage” to get themselves elected;
now, having entered the 21st century, it’s hard to say
whose in charge, maybe no one, and maybe, that’s the
way it ought to be.
Essay No. 3 - “The Common Law”:
Common law comes about at the root levels of society:
it is not law that is imposed by some authority from on
high. The development of common law was essentially
a private affair concerning millions of people
throughout dozens of generations and stretching across
several centuries. It is a process that is self adjusting
and which goes on everyday unnoticed, without great
expense to the state and without fractionalizing society.
Essay No. 4 - “On Legislation”:
A person or group of persons, surprisingly easily, can
make another or others do what is wanted. One way is
by negotiation and accommodation, viz. by contract,
that is to say, to trade with them. Another way is to
command that which is desired to be done and back it
up with the threat of brute physical force: that is to use
coercion: that is what we call legislative law: that is the
dark side of the law.
Essay No. 5 - “On Property Rights”:
The right to possess and use property is a legal concept.
It is a right which can only be lawfully obtained
through the creation of the property itself, or more
commonly in advanced societies, through a voluntary
exchange between people by way of contract —
Essay No. 6 - “On Rights”:
If fundamental rights are encroached upon to any
significant degree — and this is in their nature — a
peaceful social structure in which we would all like to
operate will collapse. In the wake of such a collapse,
many will suffer deprivation, misery and death. These
rights are “inalienable,” or as the French in 1789
defined them, “natural and imprescriptible,” because
they are essential to people as they go about caring for
themselves and their family.
Essay No. 7 - “Criminal Law & Drugs”:
The conclusion to be reached — and this assumes
one has some familiarity with what is going on in our
streets and courts today — is that anti-drug laws not
only do not help at getting at the real cause of what
drives people to abuse themselves with poisonous
substances; but that anti-drug laws exacerbate the
problem. Never mind that our government is spending
our scarce resources on an unwinnable war with drugs
— anti-drug laws create crime and corruption; they
prevent sensible medical use of certain of these drugs;
and they promote state activity that infringes on our
constitutional rights of liberty and privacy.
Essay No. 8 - “Crime & Punishment”:
The Criminal Code is the same beast that came into
being over a hundred years ago, and, since, has grown
even more into an agglomeration of forbidden acts
and transactions as has been dreamt up by successive
political conclaves. It is, without a doubt a hodgepodge,
a farrago, an unmethodical assemblage, a
galimatias. It is full of repeating and disjointed sections
most all of it written in arcane language which confuses
and confounds the most experienced magistrates. The
average officer of the law can not work with it. And as
for the chances of the citizenry, whom the code is meant
to govern, coming to an understanding of what acts are
criminal and what are not; well — forget it: there is
absolutely no chance.
Essay No. 9 - “On Democracy”:
Democracy is only compatible with a free economy; it
can only exist, in substance, in an economy of ideas.
Like a fish to water, democracy can only exist in a
total atmosphere of freedom of action; it is completely
incompatible with a system that provides for a
governing authority with coercive power. If one accepts
(anarchists, for example, do not) that a government,
to some extent or other is necessary for a civilized
society, then it is to be recognized that the business
of governing (as apart from the business of electing
representatives) cannot be conducted in a democratic
manner.
Essay No. 10 - “The Theory of Government”:
In dealing with the question — What is the purpose of
government? I am obliged to point out its loftiest duty:
and that is to instill, primarily by example, the great
personal virtues that need to be prevalent in the huge
herd that is to be governed. Necessary not only so we
can all get along better with one another, but, primarily
— and here I refer directly to the Confucian notion
of good government — so as to make the governed
follow its legitimate directives, willingly and without
the expense and destruction of compulsive government
force.
Essay No. 11 - “Politics & The Lie of Legitimacy”:
... doctors, lawyers and other professionals spend years
before they become licensed to deal with the problems
of a particular individual. Any fool with a glib tongue
and the right connections might end up with the
government levers in his hands and thereby
effect the welfare of hundreds of thousands of people.
Persons should not be allowed to stand for political
offices (which offices for this purpose should be graded
in some fashion) unless and until they are tested in
such things, as for example, elementary principles of
political philosophy and constitutional law.
Essay No. 12 - “The Siren’s Song”:
While the political process is the center-piece of
socialism there is one halting problem — the political
process does not work. The collectivists, while pointing
to the financial obstacles existing in a capitalistic
system, create in their collectivist system a whole
host of “cultural obstacles.” Special interests — elitist
minorities whose goal it is to coerce the dispersed
majorities for preferment on arbitrary grounds — move
in and the resulting situation is perpetual unrest.
[HOME]
2011