Ordered Liberty
Donald Trump recently reiterated his belief that Americans want “law and order.” Simultaneously, we have seen calls to “defund the police.”
How do we square these two very different, seemingly opposite, impulses?
In modern politics, there is a temptation to side with your tribe. So (for this moment in time) if you’re a Republican, you’re probably for law and order, and if you’re a Democrat, those words probably sound more menacing.
Of course, these roles are easily reversed, depending on the circumstances.
But rather than oscillating back and forth (depending on who’s in charge), we should realize that the emphasis on either order or liberty is a false choice.
A healthy civilization requires ordered liberty.
Think of it this way: We need order so that roving bands of rioters and looters don’t kill us and steal our things—and we also need liberty, so that the government (or the police) doesn't kill us and steal our things.
Now, in safe suburban 21st century America, either scenario might seem extreme or preposterous. But the vast majority of history suggests that individuals have more than one type of encroaching violence to worry about. Any society that wants to long endure must remain vigilant against these seemingly contradictory, but equally dangerous, threats.
The authoritarian instinct toward heavy-handed “law and order” is problematic, and so is the libertine instinct toward anarchy. Big government is dangerous, but so is one that is too weak to defend its citizens.
America’s Founding Fathers wrestled with this tension, and ultimately created a limited government that would specifically mitigate these two extreme outcomes. If you’re a conservative, this tenuous balance is one of the things you should seek to conserve.
Sadly, almost nobody on the left or the right feels it is in their interest to talk about this.
It is vital that Americans understand and embrace ordered liberty. Achieving this delicate balance is not easy for any civilization. But we are more likely to succeed if we at least agree that this is the goal.
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