Government Basics

We all have an interpretive ‘grid’ whereby to view the world around us. It is like glasses. We are seeing ‘through’ them, but they can effect how the objects appear to us. Someone has said, “there are no facts, only interpretations”. This is to share the way I see government, law, politics, and economy and related subjects. Perhaps there are some ideas here you will value and utilize in order to more safely and productively see the world around you as well.

Life, Liberty, Property

Murder, kidnapping, theft

Freedom to physically live, freedom to steward property, freedom to decide, act, move

These related trilogies simplify what our lives consist of and how humans relate to each other. As long as we are breathing, our heart is pumping the blood of life around our plumbing, and the brain has its electrical circuits working – we make choices about what to think, say, and do, and much of that involves the stewardship of possessions which meet our needs or satisfy our desires.

Generally, the special set of sins which the Bible calls on Bystanders to punish involve one or more humans unjustly violating the ‘rights’ of life, liberty, property of God or other humans. Conversely, most punishments justly using human-on-human force to take away some aspect of life, liberty, or property. So far, in trying to analyze the functions of government I have seen and the ideals of God’s revelation of the purpose of what we call human civil government, it looks like all actions of civil government are oriented to punishing crime. Governments punish crime. That’s all they can do.

Granted, when government officers are distributing benefits or protecting rights, or preventing bad things from happening – it may not look like that is what is taking place, or behind what is taking place. But whenever I have traced it back, I have always found a taking away of life (or threat thereof) for violating some law which defined a crime and punishment. You try it!

One example from today’s news involves rationing, which is expected to turn into price-controls. How does this involve crime and punishment? The government is just trying to make sure everyone has enough of what they need in a time of scarcity. I’ll bet you will find that it has been defined as a crime for a person to obtain too much of what is being rationed. There will be a punishment threatened, like a fine, or jail-time, or coercion of some kind. Rationing leads to upward pressure on prices, because some people want what is restricted more than someone else, and will have the excess property to trade for it. Typically, this leads to price-controls. Price-controls discourage people from trying to produce more, intensifying the scarcity. Now the crime is charging too much. But did God ever give civil government the authority to punish anyone because there was not enough of something? Aren’t they restricted from punishing anyone from trading what belongs to them?

This leads to an idea of freedom as just being the status of not being punished by others, in any way, provided you have not committed any of the crimes God defines in the Bible. It may be less about the rights you are supposed to have, or more about not being punished for anything God’s law does not require to be punished. This is how we can distinguish sin from crime. Only sins which God requires Bystanders to see punished should we call ‘crimes’. And then, they can only be punished in the ways God specifies. Otherwise, the law-enforcers become the criminals.

The core passage on all this is Gen. 9:5,6, and I see 4 elements here:

5 Surely I will require your lifeblood; from every beast I will require it. And from every man, from every man’s brother I will require the life of man.

6 “Whoever sheds man’s blood,
By man his blood shall be shed,
For in the image of God
He made man.

1. Defintion of crime (unjustly shed blood)

2. Definition of punishment (shed man’s blood in justice)

3. Reason given: Man is picture of God, don’t throw darts at the picture

4. This is required, God will afflict the non-criminals who refuse to obey their charge to participate in the punishment of crime.

Another classic passage comes from the emperor’s (possibly Esther’s husband) charge to Ezra to help restore “law and order” to Judea:;

Ezra 7:25 “You, Ezra, according to the wisdom of your God which is in your hand, appoint magistrates and judges that they may judge all the people who are in the province beyond the River, even all those who know the laws of your God; and you may teach anyone who is ignorant of them. 26 Whoever will not observe the law of your God and the law of the king, let judgment be executed upon him strictly, whether for death or for banishment or for confiscation of goods or for imprisonment.”

An abbreviated way of classifying these would be killing, confiscating, or coercing in the name of justice. The criminals acts could be summarized: murder, theft, kidnapping (or assault).

In our review of the Constitution, the different branches of government are discussed, and we should be able to draw wisdom from these passages:

Does this look more like a Democracy, or a Republic?

Ex 18:19 You be the people’s representative before God, and you bring the disputes to God, 20 then teach them the statutes and the laws, and make known to them the way in which they are to walk and the work they are to do. 21 Furthermore, you shall select out of all the people able men who fear God, men of truth, those who hate dishonest gain; and you shall place these over them as leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens. 22 Let them judge the people at all times; and let it be that every major dispute they will bring to you, but every minor dispute they themselves will judge. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you. 23 If you do this thing and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure, and all these people also will go to heir place in peace.”

24 So Moses listened to his father-in-law and did all that he had said. 25 Moses chose able men out of all Israel and made them heads over the people, leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens. 26 They judged the people at all times; the difficult dispute they would bring to Moses, but every minor dispute they themselves would judge.

Is. 33:22 For the Lord is our judge,
The Lord is our lawgiver,
The Lord is our king;
He will save us—

Why would there be a problem with one man trying to be all these offices at once?

1 Sam 12:12 When you saw that Nahash the king of the sons of Ammon came against you, you said to me, ‘No, but a king shall reign over us,’ although the Lord your God was your king. 13 Now therefore, here is the king whom you have chosen, whom you have asked for, and behold, the Lord has set a king over you. 14 If you will fear the Lord and serve Him, and listen to His voice and not rebel against the command of the Lord, then both you and also the king who reigns over you will follow the Lord your God. 15 If you will not listen to the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the command of the Lord, then the hand of the Lord will be against you, as it was against your fathers.

How would the Will-Of-The-People fare as the ethical authority to define crime and punishment from these verses:

Ex 23  “You shall not bear a false report; do not join your hand with a wicked man to be a malicious witness. 2 You shall not follow the masses in doing evil, nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after a multitude in order to pervert justice; 3 nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his dispute.

Where does the authority of the Constitution come from?

Does the Constitution deal with every aspect of the laws of the land, or just the relations of the States to each other and to other nations?