“If the law lets the government do something I’m not allowed to do, then it’s not a true law.”
– The Tuttle Twins Learn About The Law
Recently, Missouri Representative Cori Bush added her name to the growing list of those calling for reparations when she demanded $14 trillion in payments to black Americans in an attempt to close the wealth gap and atone for the country’s past sin of slavery. In 1861, at the start of the Civil War, 15 southern states had slave codes as part of their state constitutions allowing the immoral practice of unpaid labor to continue legally until the 13th Amendment to the Constitution in 1865, abolished the practice for good. There are few laws, if any, that exploited and perverted natural law, as slavery did.
In Connor Boyack’s 2014 children’s book, “The Tuttle Twins Learn About The Law”, Boyack tackles a classic essay on the proper role of government in society and how natural laws serve as the fundamental foundation for the protection of individual rights. Suitable for children ages 6-11, Boyack’s story provides an introductory review of Bastiat’s masterpiece, “The Law”, and shows how all laws are not alike, and how laws that exceed Constitutional limits, must be repealed.
In this episode of how the Tuttle Twins learn libertarian political philosophy, the twins find themselves faced with a classroom assignment on the merits of wisdom. Tasked with finding someone they deem worthy of such a quality, the twins chose a favorite neighbor for the job, believing he would have the right knowledge to impart. Indeed, he opts to use a book that he claims affects every person every day. That book is an essay about the law.
In 1850, Frederic Bastiat, a French economist and philosopher published a treatise, “The Law” on the role of the state in society. Bastiat believed that since the government is made up of people, much like society, they had no greater power than the people they served. Thus, if individuals cannot use force against their neighbors, neither could the government use force against its citizens. Further, Bastiat asserts that the government’s only purpose is to protect the life, liberty, and property of individuals in society. Since we all have rights endowed by our creator or nature, these rights precede government, that is, man’s law.
As such, the government is limited to protecting negative rights. Such rights are not subjected to any action from others. They exist and are available as long as no one interferes with them. Negative rights include free speech, property rights, and trade, to name a few. When governments exceed their limits, they have crossed over into positive rights, rights that obligate others to act. Positive rights include welfare benefits, public schooling, subsidized housing, and much more. All forms of entitlements require the government to take from some, whether they consent or not, and give to others. The only permissible positive right would be commitments agreed to in a contract. Therefore, negative rights can be seen as liberties, while positive rights are claims against another.
The government was created with a limited purpose and does not possess special rights. When the government plunders indiscriminately, it incentivizes people to compete for gifts. As such, they stop relying on normal channels of support such as family, churches, and social institutions and foolishly enhance the power of government. Worse, when the government uses our money to help themselves or their constituents, it does not help the truly needy. The Tuttle Twins knew that taking from others is stealing and that it was wrong. They learned that the government is also prohibited from stealing, and when they do, that, too, is wrong. Because government is limited, it is the responsibility of private individuals to help each other and to be generous to those in need.
In 2021, a group called the Mayor's Organized for Reparations and Equality formed to continue the discussion on reparations as a form of restorative justice, portending that this issue will not be going away any time soon. Fortunately, support for restitution to people who were never slaves is wildly unpopular with the public, and another positive right forbidden under the proper meaning of the law. Gone, but not forgotten, Bastiat’s “The Law”, happily reemerges in the Tuttle Twins' quest to learn liberty.
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