Michael Mitchell: Archive

World peace is a myth. Even peace within the smallest community is impossible. Humans possess free will and therefore are fallible. Either mistakenly, accidentally or purposefully, there will always be the potential for any individual to commit a crime.

A crime is any violation of an individual's right to life. People cannot pursue their happiness if others are free to violate their rights to liberty and property. Crime is the only unnatural threat to the voluntary coexistence of peaceful individuals within a society. If people wish to survive and flourish together, then crime must be forbidden by all.

People cannot effectively defend their rights against any and all potential violators. The right to self-defense must be delegated to the government. The primary purpose of government is to protect individual rights by identifying, stopping, capturing and punishing criminals. Unfortunately, government is also the biggest threat to the protection of rights. Strictly defined laws are absolutely necessary to severely limit government action.

Rights can only be violated by the use of force. Laws protect rights by banning the use of force from social relationships. People who break the law forfeit their rights, thus deserving punishment. Law enforcement is the only justification for the use of force by the government against its own people. The nature of the laws the government enforces determines the nature of the government.

Human fallibility necessitates the virtue of justice. While government laws are properly intended to be absolute, like the laws of nature, unlike natural laws, however, man-made laws can be wrong. Justice demands objective evaluation of the relevant facts before judging the guilt of a person charged with a crime in order to limit the possibility of unintentionally punishing the innocent. It also demands the fairness of laws defining crimes be judged equally as extensively to limit the possibility of legally punishing peaceful individuals. Just as people must be judged, so also must laws made by people.

Fundamentally, on every level -- federal, state and local -- the American government currently enforces two types of laws: punitive and preventive. The distinction between these types of laws is of the utmost importance.

Punitive laws, such as those forbidding murder, assault, theft and fraud, define crimes based on actual violations of rights. In theory, they are transparently intended to punish criminal behavior and therefore effectively prevent future crimes. In practice, they lead to the punishment of individuals who have violated the rights of others. Punitive laws are just.

Preventive laws, such as traffic laws, labor laws, gun laws and drug laws, invent crimes based on potential violations of rights. In theory, they are allegedly intended to prevent future crimes by selectively regulating individual behavior. In practice, they lead to the punishment of individuals who have not violated the rights of others. Preventive laws are unjust.

All laws effectively punish violators and therefore prevent future violations. It is the alleged crime a law defines that must be judged. If criminals must be punished to prevent violations of rights, then, for the same noble reason, unjust laws must be repealed.

Preventive laws are evidence proving beyond reasonable doubt the indefensible guilt of the worst possible criminal: the government. The government's primary purpose is to protect individual rights. Preventive laws violate them.

Preventive laws achieve the opposite of their alleged intent. They do not prevent crimes. They invent crimes. They are crimes.