Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!wivax!decvax!harpo!floyd!vax135!ariel!houti!trc 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