Quote of the Day: Stephan Kinsella On Law and Legislation
The Very Idea Of Legislation Corrupts And Perverts The Idea Of Law.” – Stephan Kinsella
This point has been made many times, by many people, but this was an excellent short summation of the idea. Stephan Kinsella was recently on the radio program “Free Talk Live“. He was discussing the nature of law, and the difference between natural law and legislative law.
We grow up with this idea of law coming from government; that right and wrong, and rules for an orderly world don’t exist without a government writing them down and “enforcing” them. This isn’t true though. Law, in the natural and classic sense, has existed for thousands of years, outside and separate from any person or government who makes up “laws” and writes them down. Law is a thing in and of itself. It is able to be determined and derived from normal human existence. When we interact with others, it becomes evident that it is right and preferable not to aggress against other people. They call it natural law because through existence, life, and philosophy we can determine that right and wrong exist in the universe without needing anyone to deem it so.
“Laws” that governments write down are entirely different. They are simply the arbitrary case-by-case orders, dictates, and demands of whoever rules a given people at a given moment. The things we know of as “laws” are not a natural, moral and rational guide for living on earth. They are the whims of humans. They change with the months and years. They change as public opinion changes. They are not objective, standardized, or inherently understood by all people. They are purposefully complicated, convoluted, and loaded with filler as to confuse and obfuscate the true meaning and intention of the given piece of legislation.
If we were to write down the real law, the list wouldn’t be very long. And that’s why we don’t need to legislate these ideas. We don’t need a congress to tell us murdering, stealing, defrauding, and raping is wrong. We don’t need a huge over bloated “executive” branch to “carry out” these laws. The law is something we can all understand and practice. Private, voluntary, non-coercive institutions can provide security, prevention, justice, and retribution systems; in essence enforcing the law, as it should be.
So remember Kinsella’s words. Whenever you hear in the news some new “law” is being debated, passed, signed, enforced, etc. – remember it’s all the arbitrary creation of a bunch of power hungry megalomaniacs who claim the right to rule you. Don’t be so quick to support new laws, or the expansion of existing ones. Remember that new law is just one more tool you’re willingly granting to your “leaders” so that they can more easily lord over you, take your money, run your life, and generally initiate violence and theft against everyone in the name of that new well-intentioned law.
