Free Society - The rule of law and justice
I have been researching the topic of Free Society for some time now and I I mentioned yesterday, it is becoming a series of posts. Please have a look at the previous posts, if you want to read about my view of the various aspects for a Free Society:
Free Society - I think I might have taken the red pill.
Free Society - How strong is the case?
Free Society - A free economy
Free Society -Enables Greater Equality vs Democracy
The Rule of Law
It does not matter where we go, there must be specific laws to uphold in order for a society to be prosperous. The laws (rules) must be set and everybody must adhere to these rules. The laws in a free society must be based on not harming anyone else. Not only physical harm, any type of harm, fraud, theft etc.
I hope that for a start we all agree that no society can operate without specific rules. The problem comes in when we all don't agree what these rules might be. For example - In the current justice system, I do not agree to various rules that is enforced. And in other cases I cannot believe that the law is not enforced … even if it is the simplest rules of them all. Let me highlight two examples and it becomes much more complex and I do not have a legal background. It is jyst my opinions raised.
An example of what I do not agree with
Let's call it victim less crimes as I believe we are familiar with the term. A good example is the buying and selling of diamonds. I would love if somebody can explain to me who I am harming, if I pick up a rock (diamond) and sell it to somebody else for my own profit? Look at the Sperrgebiet Namibia, The 'Forbidden Diamond area post I made a few weeks ago. Diamonds are everywhere… You can pick them up at any time, but there are two problems. The first is that it is illegal to enter the area, which I can understand, as it is somebodies property. The second problem is that even if you pick up a diamond and want to sell it to somebody, you will be arrested and spend some time in jail. Why? What is the difference between picking up a normal rock r a diamond. Yes I know it is supply and demand, but why can I not sell a diamond? Just because somebody decided that?
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Laws that are not enforced and this is driving me nuts
I know it might sound like a stupid example, but we have a problem in South Africa, where our taxi industry are taking the rules of the road into their own hands and ignoring the law. They taxi drivers do not stay on the roads provided, and just decides to pass all traffic on the shoulder, on the gravel, to the extent that new roads are being formed next to the actual tar road. Those who have been to South Africa, will know, that there is no real difference between travelling in Johannesburg or Pretoria, than in New York or London, or any international metropolitan area for that matter. Stupid things like this, where the law are taken into their own hands will however have tremendous impact on the way these cities are perceived. Johannesburg or Pretoria, will become just like any other African Capital, where the people are not looking after their own infrastructure. Not only that, they are causing a lot of death on the roads, by causing accidents.
The rule of law in a free society
The argument here is that the rule of law should not be dictated by anybody, it should be based on the characterises which is part of human nature.
I mentioned the book Foundations of a Free Society written by Eamonn Buttler in an earlier post. I want to reference his book again.
People in a free society have a right to this natural justice by
virtue of their humanity. Natural justice holds that laws must be
clear and certain, that they treat people equally, that they do not
require the impossible, that they are not retrospective, and that
penalties are predictable and commensurate to the offence. There
must be due process of law in all cases, with fair trials and no
lengthy detention without trial. People accused of offences must
be treated as innocent until proved guilty, and individuals must
not be harassed by being prosecuted several times for the same
offence. Such principles are accepted by almost everyone, regardless
of their country, culture, race or religion.
To guarantee this natural justice and uphold the rule of law
requires a properly independent judiciary that cannot be influenced
by political leaders. The police, similarly, must be independent.
Bribes and corruption cannot be tolerated among the
police and judiciary if freedom is to prevail.
The above sounds a lot like the justice system that most countries have in place. Innocent until proven guilty … May not be prosecuted for the same offence etc. However there are a big difference in enforcing the rule of law in a Free Society than in a Democracy govern by corrupt leaders.
Nkandla in South Africa
The president of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, have recently build the Nkandla property using tax payers money. It is his private property, nothing to do with the management of the country.
He openly stated that it was only the security upgrades that was charged to the tax payer. There was however an inquiry, which proved that the all the money for his private home, came from tax payers money. Well, as I mentioned in previous posts, our leaders in South Africa, is corrupt to the extend, that it is actually hysterically funny. And the people, they just carry on voting for the dude. The masses are the poorest of the poor, and they are being fed, bullshit, and are not giving the opportunity to learn or educate themselves as they are physically living from hand to mouth. Education is not even a priority for them, it's only where the food for tomorrow will come from.
Township Justice
South Africa has a lot of people still living in what is known as townships. This is very the people I am referring to as the poorest of the poor lives, and they have created their own justice system to take care of the criminal aspects within their own society. There are some gruesome images within the video, so it is not suggested to watch if you are a sensitive viewer.
This justice system have evolved through the years and these crimes are not reported to the police. Even if these evetns are reported to the police, it is close to impossible to convict as everybody are afraid.
When you inform the police of who was involved in the Mob Justice, you will surely be the next victim of the Mob Justice.
Final Thought
My opinion is that there are many faults in the current legal systems, and the more money you have , the better chance you have of getting off. I believe that a Free Society with a Rule of the Law using Human Nature as a basis, is surely possible, but only if this is a result of evolution and not by enforcing outright. I am not sure what these rules will, but surely we will have some similar laws than now, logical one like it murder etc. There will also be some very interesting new laws which I think some of us have never thought of.
Your comments would be appreciated.
Happy Steeming
Hmmm... what is this "free society" of which you speak? Doesn't seem to be for me.
@lordvader , Definitely not for you. I would suggest you continue to serve the Galactic Empire as a Sith Lord .
Excellent.
@jacor
W are shifting towards there slowly. is only a matter of time
I guess I will pick it up as I move through my studies of the subject. I do however think that it change are required.
I think the distinction should be between rules and "laws," since the connotation in this case can lead to centralized governance via coercion of taxpayers.
My hope is that our evolution will see the implementation of an insurance/defense agency economy via voluntary means. This means an economy where these agencies prosper when we're healthy and at peace, and they fail via loss of consumer faith. It's an economy where you have to opt into the rules in order to participate. No one will force you to opt in, but if you don't and want to live in that area, you'd find it hard to to conduct business since the agencies couldn't guarantee you weren't a liability, and thus wouldn't serve you because you're not covered. Coverage could be obtained simply by agreeing to the set rules of the community in which you want to live.
This seems far fetched and impossible now, but I believe this is inevitably where humanity will go, as "state" is an antiquated and no longer needed vehicle of societal security. It only serves to divide us through flags, anthems, and pledges of allegiance to legislators.
Not sure where you are from prufarchy but here in the states, a large portion of what is prosecuted as corporate crime is based on regulatory rulings from agencies that have no legislative power. We have completely given rules written by unelected bureaucrats the weight of law and we are suffering from it.
That's a fair statement that I agree with entirely, but I'd point that the relationship between government and these agencies is what facilitates all of these bizarre contradictions. The revolving door between the private fed and the public government comes to mind as an example. I don't wanna be the guy shouting "blame government," but the fact is that our situation has been made infinitely worse through statism.
Nice article. On your final thought though, using Human Nature as a basis for rule of law..human nature at its most basic Darwinism, survival of the fittest. It started that way, and progressed to oppressing and preying upon the weak. The current laws and rules are a direct result of nothing other than our human nature evolving over time. A reset button on the human race sadly is the only way to fix this in my opinion haha. I believe governments need to be humbled in some way..maybe by the time the Earth is in danger of destruction by an asteroid or cataclysm we will finally start working for each other and with each other rather than for ourselves.
Hey @duckbutter, thanks for the comment and interesting thoughts. Would like to push that reset button as well for many reasons! I recently saw a quote where Darwin actually suggested that it is not about survival of the fittest. See below, and I thoroughly believe in this statement.
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Great post! Here in the States we are experiencing the collapse of our system under the weight of too many laws. Laws must be simple and few to be effective. As you point out, corrupt leaders subvert justice, In the state of Oklahoma, where I live, we have collected more than enough signatures to put a ballot measure in place to vote on the legalization of medical marijuana, but our state Attorney General would have it his way and will not allow this ballot measure to be put to a vote. As long as justice is subverted, people grow more frustrated and more and more are beginning to see that our rule "Of the People, By the People, and For the People" has become a slogan that is meaningless in every day life. Keep dreaming brother, already, platforms like Steemit are building the future we long to see in small ways that bridge continents, as evidenced by this post and my comment!
Great comment! Thank you for taking the time to read and comment :) I would love if there could be a way to form a country without borders , across continents and across current nations. Would be difficult to enforce and manage, but I would be one of the first to opt in as @prufarchy mentioned above. @dollarvilgilante mention in one of his posts, that he was born into Canada, and somebody decided that he should pay half of all the money he earned for the rest of his life as tax.
My problem is that I would've loved to have those kind of problems. At least the tax paid in the States and Canada and first world countries are mostly applied to improve the nations infrastructure etc. I was born into a country, when there was still apartheid, which I had nothing to do with, and did not support. Now 22 years later we sit with things like BEE issues, where the government are forcing the previously disadvantaged into position of power to run the country and corporate entities. Reality is that any 22 year old with no work experience, or even a degree, will find it easier to find a good position in this country. In comparison I have 25 years experience in my role, of which the last 5 years are in an executive position. I also have 7 years international experience, which I spend in corporate entities in Europe. The problem here is that the government is turning a blind eye to what is actually happening because of something that ended 2 decades ago!
I will write a post about what is really happening in South Africa these days. Anyway , enough of my issues. Thanks for your comment and following you!
No, the VAST majority of our wealth is used to blow shit up and kill people we personally have no gripe against. Then, it goes to prop up corporations too greedy and incompetent to stay in business. While there is definitely an economy of scale, we don't get nearly the benefit socially from our tax wealth that we should. I understand that we still maintain a higher standard of living than most and we are very blessed to be in that position, but we experience nearly the same issues as everywhere else, ours is just more civilized. Why would our govt need bribes when there are licenses, permits, fees, fines and layers of taxes? The beauty of a stateless world is that "enforcement" wouldn't even be necessary, so long as we maintained the voluntary aspects. Local enforcement of actual crimes against actual individuals (not the state or a corporation) could be dealt with on a regional basis.
I guess it is the same everywhere. Governments are corrupt. Dude I love this platform. I am learning everyday, and as somebody recently commented on one of my posts.
Freedom = Voluntarism
If you don't have the choice to not participate, you don't really have freedom, you may have choices, but you are a prisoner of the state in a very real sense.
That's the hardest part for people to accept, and until they do, they aren't able to hear anything else. It all starts with understanding what markmorrisjr just said.
if I wanted to peacefully live my life away from the monster of empire, men in uniforms would eventually come for me to drag me back and cage me. That I'm "encouraged" to "vote" on who will be my jailor does not ease my sentence. We were never asked if we wanted to finance this abstract, corrupt social contract.
@prufarchy and @markrmorrisjr thank you for the great insight. Following both of you now.
Two thoughts; First, you write of laws and rules yet you have not talked about authority, ie., What gives authority to laws and rules?; Perhaps a deeper dive in that pond will spark some new thought; Second, closely following the first - Why do most people think laws and rules halt, shape, or control bad behavior? AND; When did such thinking become common place?
Cheers.
Hi @tad-auker, Bear in mind that I am just researching the subject and putting my thoughts on paper. I have written a few articles as indicated above. I am planning to write a follow up post about the Authority in the Free Society., but the bottom line is that the rules of a free society should be general, and apply to people in authority as much as to citizens. Not sure about the second point. My second example above actually shows that even if there are laws, people do not abide by these and therefor does not always control bad behavior.
My point was not intended to be critical. I had hoped to be more thought provoking. My focus is on the idea of 'control' itself. Laws and rules derived from the law are intended as control measures to shape or control bad behavior. So the question then becomes; Who decides what is bad and therefore needs to be controlled? Further; Do we need to talk about control measures first? Wouldn't it be more advisable to speak to rational self-interest first? Maybe I'm asking the wrong questions, but, it seems to me that 'human nature' is treated as a problem to be controlled or solved, rather than as an opportunity space for learning and growth.
Cheers.
Is there any free society anywhere in the world?!
Great writing @jacor
ok