Dear Friends,
It seems to me, for a nation to call itself civilized, it must hold all people to be equal under the law… that no one be above the law and no one is below the law, is the first definition of equality. Nations, systems of laws and mores, that hold people unequally are unjust and injustice is the definition of tyranny. It is the duty of all free citizens of a nation, that call themselves free, to point out anytime people are above or below the law. Deviation from this philosophy negates any good that is claimed by the political leader who engages in it. That leader is an oppressor, no matter how much we may love them, or hate the people being unjustly treated.
To have a faction that is above the law is the most pernicious form of inequality. Those that are above the law are treated so because of political favor. This is always so. Those that have political favor are under the constant inducement to act outside the law… as it would be applied to everyone else. As a result, we can say that the source of inequality in nations, is the pernicious incentives that political favor sets up.
A more obvious form of injustice is when there is a faction that is below the law. This means, they don’t enjoy the protections of the law, due to their lack of political favor or negative political favor. This is often apparent or it can be subversive. People who are below the law, know in their hearts they are not protected by the very laws that will protect others, but lacking political favor they have no way to change the paradigm in government, because political change requires, as a prerequisite, political favor.
An example of those that are above the law in the US are our Elite. The Elite in government are only held to the law when their actions are so egregious, there is public outcry, and their political favor is diminished by it. Those that are below the law, are citizens who in some way anger the political establishment and as a result, have the legal protections we all assume, taken away from them. We know this is so because, in our own lives we are willing to turn a blind eye to the injustices of our friends, and we use rules and law against those we dislike. Quite often bigotry in society is the source of negative political favor.
Those that enjoy the fruits of political favor, being human, seek to enhance the effects of political favor… since they have it. Some ways to do this include, but are not limited to, grouping people and vilifying some groups while lionizing others, using the sophist rhetoric of “fairness,” to claim that some should be above the law, or holding others to be below the law, and lastly, the ever present drive from all governing Elite, to have political favor be the source of distributive justice. If you have political favor or are in a favored group, the incentives are to continue the injustice generated by it. Since we are human beings, and like animals, all seek our own good, this must be so.
Because government gets it’s power from those it governs, it can only legally and morally engage in those actions that we as people can engage in morally, and under natural law. Murder is immoral and so government cannot simply kill those that it finds obnoxious, stealing is immoral so we cannot empower government to steal from a politically disfavored group, using violence to force others to our will is another form of injustice we cannot pass to government, because we don’t have that power by morality or natural law. All these things are done however, in the name of the people, by those with political favor to enhance their favor and to enrich themselves, in the name of “fairness.”
This is the reason why the governing Elite are so enamored with socialism… it is distributive justice by political favor. Socialism is by definition redistribution by the State. The State is government and government is always and everywhere political. Therefore socialism is distributive justice by political favor. No matter the wrongs it claims to seek to rectify, it is a form of injustice in the name of justice. Injustice is a wrong. To do a wrong, is wrong, no matter who does it… even a politically favored person, no matter if we love them or not.
If we want to live in a society that is truly just, it is incumbent upon us to not only be just in our own actions, but to hold our political leaders to be just also. When we see them using rhetoric to enforce injustice on some segment of society, even if we personally dislike that faction ourselves, we must point out the injustice. If we see that the Elite are above the law, we must demand justice be applied, no matter how much we like that politician. Because my friends, to allow someone else to be treated unjustly, sets the precedent that injustice is allowable by government, and political favor, being a fickle thing, we may find ourselves in the politically unfavored group someday, and we have forfeited our right to legal protections… by our own actions, or lack thereof. By political favor and a sophist notion of “Fairness” we are the authors of our own oppression.
Sincerely,
John Pepin
