The One Purpose of Democracy Is Insurance of Natural Law


THE ONE PURPOSE OF DEMOCRACY IS INSURANCE OF NATURAL LAW

— “Democracy is commonly described as having an inherent superiority over every other form of government. It is supposed to advance with an irresistible and preordained movement. It is thought to be full of the promise of blessings to mankind; yet if it fails to bring with it these blessings, or even proves to be prolific of the heaviest calamities, it is not held to deserve condemnation. These are the familiar marks of a theory which claims to be independent of experience and observation on the plea that it bears the credentials of a golden age, non-historical and unverifiable.” — Sir HJS Maine

It’s rule of law, by the natural law, of sovereignty and reciprocity, and not the institution of democracy, that provides the good. At best Democracy is a means of throwing out governments that vary from rule of law by the natural law of sovereignty and reciprocity, without the need for bloodshed, and the promise of bloodshed otherwise.

Democracy degenerates rapidly into the violation of the rule of law by the natural law of sovereignty and reciprocity, just as surely as oligarchy and authority degenerate rapidly into the violation of the rule of law by the natural law of sovereignty and reciprocity.

The form of government is immaterial. Either the civilians seek to perserve rule of law by the natural law of sovereignty and reciprocity, by threat of force of arms, administered consistently by the court, and with democracy preserving or withdrawing license of the state, thereby obviating the need for force of arms to failure of both court and democracy.

To say that the common man is competent to rule is folly – he evidences little ability to govern himself, his family, his business, industry, and society. Therefore the via-positiva of a powerful demos is merely deterministically self-destructive. Instead, as in all cases, the demos merely retains the right to veto policies in the production of commons, and the court the right to veto laws in the coercion of the people into other than adaptation to the natural law of sovereignty and reciprocity.

Therefore it is only the reciprocal insurance by force of arms, of the rule of law by the natural law, of self-determination by self-determined means, by sovereignty and reciprocity, and voluntary markets for cooperation in all aspects of life that determines the velocity and prosperity of adaptation by the people. Everything else is just the procedure by which that condition is administered and operated.

This is all there is to be said.


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