Alex R. Knight III responds to Peter A. Gilbert.

Recently, Peter A. Gilbert, Executive Director of the Vermont Humanities Council, aired a piece on Vermont Public Radio (i.e., taxpayer-subsidized statist propaganda), later printed in the Rutland Herald (i.e., customer supported statist propaganda), titled “Rule of Law is Our Cornerstone.” It’s a remarkable if predictable example of statist doublespeak, Orwell-style. Towards the beginning of the editorial, Dwight Eisenhower is quoted as having said: “The world no longer has any choice between force and law. If civilization is to survive, it must choose the rule of law.”

Were Ike still alive to read this, I’d be pointing out to him what a preposterous statement this is. First, “law” is force – otherwise it would not qualify as a “law,” but a mere suggestion or recommendation. Or rather, in order for any governmental “law” to be anything other than just ink on paper, there must be police and soldiers willing to use any level of violent force – up to and including deadly force – in order to enforce such politico-bureaucratic edicts.

Secondly, since there is precisely nothing civilized about conducting human relationships in such a manner, “civilization”, as such, cannot even exist while we’re tyrannized by governmental “law.” If we want a civilized society in which to exist and interact, all conduct must of necessity be both peaceful and voluntary. This means no taxation or government, but rather a laissez-faire free market in which individuals trade with each other, save, invest, and otherwise live their lives free from violent intrusion and socialistic or fascistic intervention. Mediums of exchange, such as gold and silver, would also replace government-sanctioned fiat currencies that possess no real intrinsic value, thus opening the door to hyperinflation and high interest rates. No government means stable monies.

But to listen to Gilbert’s deluded expose’ is to visit a bizarre world of the dystopian and surreal:

“What matters is not just the rule of law itself – that system that keeps us from the law of the jungle, that protects people and property, that actually creates freedom by establishing a system of ordered liberty, and that underlies everything from drivers taking turns at a four-way stop sign to the purchases we make.”

If these were not the statements of a shallow thinker, Gilbert would recognize that the very creation of a government automatically threatens both people and their property by its intrinsic nature. With government, things can never be otherwise. And there is neither order nor liberty under government. There is only bungling, unaccountable, wasteful and costly bureaucracy – and there are only infringements upon liberty in virtually every aspect of the individual’s life. I don’t need government to regulate me at an intersection: I already excercise caution so as not to inflict damage on anyone (physical or economic) nor sustain any myself. It’s no business of anyone’s what purchases I make – be it milk, motorcycles, marijuana, or machineguns – except those with whom I negotiate and execute the deal. That’s both order and liberty. Not government.

In short, government “law” is not, never was, and never will be the cornerstone of anything except tyranny and injustice of the most repugnant order. “Our” cornerstone, the cornerstone of a free and equitable society, is an unfettered marketplace absent of all political government. And nothing whatsoever besides.

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