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From: trc@houti.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: limited laws and government
Message-ID: <304@houti.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 16-Jun-83 17:50:32 EDT
Article-I.D.: houti.304
Posted: Thu Jun 16 17:50:32 1983
Date-Received: Sat, 18-Jun-83 04:46:24 EDT
Lines: 57


Response to Guy Harris on the possibility of a small set of basic
laws to govern by.

     You demand proof of my assumption that a small set  of  laws
to govern people is possible.

     Consider what you demand - that I recreate for you, starting
from metaphysics and epistemology, and climbing through ethics to
politics, the entire chain of reasoning that leads to  my  claim.
Can you see that that would require a rather long news note!?!  I
suggest that you read Ayn  Rand's  works,  if  you  want  a  full
exposition.   "Philosophy  -  Who  Needs It?",  "Capitalism - The
Unknown Ideal", and "The Virtue of Selfishness" have the basics.

     So, rather than start at the bottom, I will start some place
in the middle, and merely sketch the argument.

     Aristotle defined Man as "the rational animal".  Human  life
is the fundamental value for all humans, because preserving it is
necessary to preserve their nature.  Reason is the only means  of
survival  available  to  humans.  Support of one's own life is at
the basis of all morality.

     The value of one's own life leads directly  to  rights.  The
concept  of  "right" is that certain actions are morally correct,
and that no one may morally prevent those  actions  by  fraud  or
force.  To  violate  another's  right is to deny that life *is* a
right for humans, which in turn denies one's own right to life.

     The only purpose of  government  is  to  protect  individual
rights.   Governments  are  given  a  monopoly  upon  the  use of
retaliatory force, which it is to use rationally only to  enforce
human   rights.    Government  does  not  have  any  independent,
"natural" right to exist, or to wield force,  because  it  is  an
artificial  organization  created  by humans.  Its powers must be
assigned to it by the humans that accept its rule and it can only
govern or act for those people.

     Law is the codification of the  purposes  and  powers  of  a
government.   It  does  not  need to address every "point" in its
sphere of concern.  It need only specify the boundaries.  The Law
should state that the purpose of law and government is to protect
individual rights, and should list those rights that  are  to  be
protected.   It  should  state  that  individuals  are free to do
anything that does not violate the rights the government is going
to protect.

     In addition, to be practical, the law must define a rational
method  of  running  the  government.   This could either be very
"high level", specifying only some ground rules, and letting  the
government form itself;  or it could be very specific but allow a
method of changing that form.  (As in the game Nomic.)


        Tom Craver
        houti!trc