🏯 Government

Definition

  • Government is the mechanism by which laws, rules, and regulations are created, interpreted, and enforced.
  • Governments today exist in the form of nation-states that assume the authority to exercise power over inhabitants without proper consent. The only law or rule that is appropriately enforced without consent is the Legal Principle. After all, that aggressors do not consent to refrain from aggressing is irrelevant. We are justly entitled to defend ourselves against aggressors even if they have not agreed to refrain from aggressing.
  • However, when governments enforce laws, rules, or regulations that do not harmonize with the Legal Principle, they become coercive organizations that breach the Legal Principle.
  • We need proper and fair governance to administer the Legal Principle justly.
  • Governance can be achieved in many ways. The words we use, like ‘state’, ‘government’, ‘court’, ‘local community’, ‘democracy’, or ‘anarchy’, are not so important. What is essential is that governance be delivered without ever breaching the Legal Principle, which mandates that we must not aggress.
  • According to the Live and Let Live Philosophy, even the government is justly restricted from aggressing. However, as long as the government does not aggress, it acts appropriately.

Legitimate government

  • Governments (i.e., a group that administers governance) get their legitimate authority from people who voluntarily delegate some of their rights to it. These rights existed before the government was formed.
  • The purpose of government is to secure such rights, not to grant them. Indeed, governments have no rights to grant. We create government, not the other way around.
  • Governments act appropriately when they act as our agent to defend our pre-existing rights.
  • Because we each have the right to defend ourselves and others against aggression, we can legitimately delegate that right to the government or anyone else.
  • None of us has a right to aggress, so none of us can delegate a right to aggress to the government or anyone else. As such, when the government aggresses, it acts illegitimately.

‘That which we resist, persists’

  • The 3L Movement is not against the government. No government in history has been known to comply with the Legal Principle, but there is nothing in nature that prevents the tool of government from being used in peaceful ways.
  • A legitimate government does not violate the Legal Principle.
  • 3L’s mission is to align all laws globally with the Legal Principle and inspire all to adopt the voluntary Aspirational Values. In a world where this mission has been achieved, forms of government that adhere to the 3L Philosophy can serve in various useful functions.

Government is a neutral tool.

  • Government is a tool, much like a weapon. Tools are neutral; they are neither inherently aligned nor in conflict with the Legal Principle. In much the same way, a rifle can be used in ways that align with the Legal Principle, like defending a nation against invasion, or it can be used in aggressive ways that breach it.

Gratitude for the government!

  • People around the world have successfully used the tool of governments to:
    • enforce the criminal laws involving victim crimes,
    • protect free speech,
    • enforce the separation of church and state,
    • administer the civil justice system,
    • protect private property rights,
    • legitimately defend their nation from invasion.
  • Admittedly, there are countless examples of the contrary, but ignoring the positive instances leads to the unhelpful and erroneous conclusion that government and governance are inherently evil. Government is just a tool.

Abolishing the government is a fool’s errand.

  • Those who focus on abolishing the government are like those who try to abolish any specific tool. Their efforts fail - the tool becomes unavailable to law-abiding people, leaving outlaws (criminals) with exclusive access.
  • When no laws exist, aggressors are free to aggress without consequences. Therefore, we must have laws that prohibit aggression.
  • Besides, we will always need a way to create laws, enforce them, and interpret them. There is no escape from this conclusion. All reasonable people want a law preventing aggression. Government is one available tool to accomplish this goal peacefully and justly.

3L-aligned governance

  • Instead of prohibition, we should focus our efforts on ensuring the tool of government is used exclusively in harmony with the Legal Principle. We need the people who judge, legislate, and enforce the laws to have the 3L Philosophy in their hearts and minds.
  • Rather than the endless struggle of government insiders fighting to impose their capricious personal preferences onto others, the government can be used to create, interpret, administer, and enforce laws that align with the Legal Principle at all levels.

If we fail to adopt the spirit of the 3L Philosophy

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