Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day! Heres one of my six Facebook wall posts today to acknowledge this days passage. Dr. King was arguably Americas greatest advocate and practitioner of nonviolent resistance, which has worked well historically against the majoritarian oppression of moral self-governing societies, although it might not work so well against the individual oppression of corrupt cunning despots like Stalin or Hitler or perhaps even King George III---but, in any case, we would always do well to engage in violence ONLY as a last resort in defense, including in political rebellion. So, when are societies justified in political rebellion? Americas virtuous wise founders contemplated this question, and concluded that we should not defy Earthly governments for light and transient reasons, but only when they become systematically oppressive. And, based upon such wisdom, as best as I presently understand things... Earthly laws are unjust to the extent that they violate our innate (God-given) rights, including by exceeding limits to contractually-delegated authority. We have no moral duty to obey unjust laws, but only to strive to correct them; but, unless/until we correct them, its usually most effective for us to obey them, despite their unjust nature, rather than to defy them, which can be counterproductive, but not always---in fact, sometimes, we are not only morally justified in political rebelliousness, but morally obligated to engage in it. Such justified defiance of such unjust laws may take various forms, including (but not limited to) civil disobedience, jury nullification, and state nullification. Heres my Facebook note about this subject in greater detail, for whomever it may interest, and for whatever it may be worth.
Posted on: Tue, 21 Jan 2014 00:21:52 +0000
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