The Higher Law

This is an attempt at summarizing some very deep and important points of understanding.  We do not claim that it is perfect, but is meant to begin dialog and to put us all on the path to discovering great truths of our nature and nature of the universe.  Once again, we remind you that deeper study of the natures of truth and law and their mutual relationship can be done at www.thylibertyinlaw.com.

Creation of Law

In order to create a true law, three requirements must be fulfilled:

1. It must be based on universal, static truth.
2. Truth must be authored into an actual statement.
3. That statement must be confirmed as truth and executed.

The longevity and validity of any law are directly proportional to its compliance with these three requirements.  Any law that does not meet these requirements is false and sooner or later will fail.

Based on Truth

The first requirement is that law must be based on universal, static truth.  It is not valid to characterize “truth” as any statement that may be contextually accurate, but subjective.  For example, the statement “my favorite color is blue” may be an accurate statement (which we often refer to as a “true” statement), but this is a misuse of the term “true” as this statement can change at any time and will become false.  Truth is unchanging and not subject to interpretation or opinion.

As stated in the post, The Origin of Law, the fundamental truth of our creation is that “all men are created equal.”   Therefore, any law that is intended to govern organization must sustain and comply completely with this truth or else the proposed law is false and cannot be sustained.

A deeper look at this fundamental truth shows that it is, in fact, a law.  As you will see shortly, a law is a statement of truth that has been confirmed and executed.  In this case, the statement is that all men are created equal.  This law is called the Law of Equality. The confirmation and execution of the Law of Equality is proven by the fact that no organization in which inequality exists can remain solvent and functional for more than a relatively short span of time.  To the degree that the Law of Equality is supreme in organization, organization will endure.

While the statement “all men are created equal” is a statement of truth, the Law of Equality is actually applicable to and evident in all matter and energy in the universe, not specifically stated in terms of the equality of mankind, but stated in infinite other ways that are contextually appropriate.  The statements may differ in context and application, but the underlying truth is the same—equality.

Legislation

Truth alone is static and expressionless.  It has no discernible meaning.  For example, the oft quoted statement 2 + 2 = 4 is a law.  The truth on which that law is founded is that any two items added to any two items makes four items.  That truth remains true regardless of our acknowledgment or ignorance of it.  It was true before man discovered mathematics or even considered the notion of calculation and it will remain true eternally; however, unless and until it is expressed, truth is meaningless.

Legislation is the process by which truth is expressed in statements by some form of intelligence.  To become a law, truth must first be authored into an intelligible statement that expresses it, i.e. 2 + 2 = 4. Still, once authored into a statement, it is not yet a law.

Confirmation and Execution

Once a law is authored into a statement, it must be evaluated and confirmed as true and then executed (i.e. given life).  Only then has truth become law.  As stated previously, truth is expressionless and therefore has no life.  Likewise, an authored statement is simply that, and without the life-giving confirmation of an executive (individual or group), it is equally dead (perhaps it’s more accurate to say it is unborn.)  Consider the following:

Both houses of Congress of the U.S. government recently proposed separate statements (bills) pertaining to the organization and administration of what is often referred to as Universal Healthcare. The specifics of the bills, their similarities and differences, including political and social implications will not be addressed here.  The important point to consider in this example is that in neither case was the power of the executive branch of government brought to bear.  Though they are most certainly authored statements (truth aside for the sake of this example), the bills remain as non-living statements.  Never having received the life-giving confirmation and execution of the President, there is no law, only legislation that is effectively meaningless.

Republican Government (the model, not the party)

For those who are paying attention, you may have noticed that each of the three requirements of law creation represents respectively one of the branches of a republic.

The first requirement—truth—is the domain of the judicial branch.  The judicial branch is not an active branch of government, meaning it cannot legitimately propose new legislation, nor can it execute legislation; it can only passively evaluate the confirmation of proposed legislation and the execution of existing law.  This branch is only activated by appeal from either of the other two branches.

The second requirement—authoring statements—is the sole responsibility of the legislative branch.  This is the first active branch of government and cannot confirm or execute its own statements, nor can it evaluate the execution of existing law.

The third requirement—confirmation and execution—is the sole responsibility of the executive branch, which is the second active branch of government (not in value or precedence, but in order of function).  This branch cannot author statements, nor evaluate its own execution.  Confirmation is accomplished by knowledge of truth, which can be tested by comparison to the Law of Equality.  Anything that violates the Law of Equality is false and cannot be confirmed and executed as true law.

This pattern is called the republic model and it is the basis of all organized function in the universe, from the infinitely large, to the infinitely small.  It is after this model that the republic of the United States was fashioned as inspired by God through its founders.  The republic model is the only viable model for preserving and properly authoring truth into law, thereby preserving the necessary equality of mankind.   In this way, the republic of the United States is not the model, but is the reflection of the only valid pattern of law creation in the universe.  All other patterns, models, structures, and philosophies are false and invalid and will invariably lead to the destruction of those entities and societies that attempt to implement and sustain them.

The republic model is a universal pattern for law creation.  Deep treatment and examination of the nature of law is provided at www.thylibertyinlaw.com, so we will not go into great depth in this blog; however, some of the more crucial elements of law and truth must be understood for us to proceed, so we will cover them at high level.  We strongly recommend that you study the content of www.thylibertyinlaw.com.

The age-old battle of evolution vs. intelligent design really boils down to one core issue: the origin of law.  Both camps claim that we are subject to laws—evolution claims the laws of nature without intelligence; intelligent design claims the laws of nature are intelligence.  The difference in these two arguments has deep implications.  While intelligent design recognizes the supremacy of the intelligence that created us, evolution theory holds that, given that we evolved to where we are now by the process of natural selection, we are not subject to any standard of right or wrong except that which allows the strongest and fittest to survive in order to improve the collective gene pool and ensure the perpetuation of the species.

As in any argument, there is only one possible outcome.  Either one of them is correct, or they are both wrong.  There cannot be two correct answers.  There is no such construct as subjective truth in which what is true for some is not true for others.  As complex as our universe is, at its most fundamental level it is simply binary.  Things are either true or they are false.

Law vs. Truth

So how does truth relate to law?

Consider this example: In 1863, as part of the final push to abolish slavery, Abraham Lincoln delivered the Emancipation Proclamation.  This culminated in the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.  Up until that time, slavery was considered legal according to four different provisions of the Constitution.

The situation as it was at that time revealed an inherent moral dilemma: If slavery was “legal” according to the Constitution, could it be considered wrong?

This question illustrates the dynamic that exists between law and truth.  In the one case, the law stated that slavery was constitutionally protected; in the other case, the truth that eventually overturned (corrected) the law was that slavery is bad.  In other words, the higher law prevailed.

Higher Law

Any law that is consistent with truth is higher than, or superior to, any law that is not consistent with truth.  In the particular case of the issue of slavery, the founding law of the United States should always have been recognized as the higher law.  Though not formally written as a law, the Declaration of Independence boldly stated that all other laws of governance must be based on this self-evident truth: “that all men are created equal.”  The Constitution was then written with this fundamental truth (higher law) as its backbone, though admittedly, the founding fathers did not remain entirely true to that foundation.  (Many arguments can be made as to why; they are for another time and place.)

Contained within this statement of truth—that all men are created equal—is another, more subtle but unmistakable statement of truth: that man was created.  In other words, the Declaration of Independence recognized the necessity of a creator of mankind.  It is only in recognition of this truth that equality can be asserted or maintained.  It’s important to recognize that the name, attributes and character of this creator are not defined by the Declaration of Independence.  This allows for interpretation and variation (freedom) depending on the religious or non-religious beliefs that one holds; however, it does not allow for the denial of a superior intelligence against which all definitions of truth and falsehood, good and bad, right and wrong must be held.  Without this standard of higher intelligence, all such notions are matters of opinion and are therefore collectively correct and incorrect—a logical impossibility except when no standard of judgment exists.  Without the standard, no one can lay undisputed claim on the knowledge of right and wrong.  Without that knowledge, how can any law be valid?

The answer is simple and obvious: it can’t.  No law can be valid that does not 1) recognize the superior intelligence that created us, and 2) sustain the nature of our creation as equal one with another.  Recognition of our equality is simply impossible without recognition of our creator.  More accurately, recognition of our equality cannot be guaranteed without recognition of our creator.

Therefore, higher law is any law that recognizes our creator (however you define it) and respects the nature of our creation as a state of inalienable equality.

The universal and eternal model for creating such laws is a republic.

Please listen to the following podcast on our journey to The Republic. 

The Journey to The Republic

Note:  The blog mentioned in the podcast is www.thylibertyinlaw.com.