The Farce of "Natural Law"
by Attorney Katrana Crichton submitted 7/11
The sad events of this year's Japanese earthquake once more show the need for humans to wake up to the reality of Nature and to start basing legal and political systems on such realities instead of illusions. An earthquake is a natural phenomena that in this case killed at least 20,000 people. It damaged a nuclear reactor but this damaged reactor has killed no one. Yet, the only thing that politicians and the politically correct can talk about is the danger posed by nuclear reactors. This is ridiculous. Technology and the political and legal systems that allow it to develop and prosper have done more to create justice in the world then any ethical or philosophical systems that constantly only just talk about the need for justice.
Every year the amount of individuals killed by Nature exceeds by at least a multiple of a 1,000 the amount of individuals killed by man-made disasters yet the politically correct keep talking about Nature as if it is some kind of beautiful thing that helps and fosters the development of humankind and civilization. This is a farce. The only people who have this view are those that live in their politically correct world with the security of family trust funds to back them up as they view Nature from their beach house or mountain side retreats. Whatever justice and equity there are in the world is man made. We should accept this and concentrate on bringing justice and equity into the world and controlling all injustices both man made and natural and not waste time on seeking a natural order or justice based on "Natural Law". Both the political system and the legal system should accept this reality and stop dealing with principles such as Natural Law arguing that there are basic or natural concepts from which all legal systems and legal rules derive. This is nonsense. If legal systems were based on Natural Law, it would be fascism that rules the world not any type of equitable democratic principles. We have democracies because we want them and make them work a democracy does not work simply because it is "naturally better". Throughout history, all democracies have eventually failed and became dictatorships. If we use illusions to maintain them instead of pragmatics, we will be next. We must use all tools to make democracy work and prosper and not be restricted by false illusions that "Nature" will help us. It will not unless we make it help us.
As pointed out in other Essays here, the law is just as much a part of the unjust and inequitable forces that exist in the world as anything else. The powerful be they capitalists, communist, or whatever use the law to maintain order regardless of the nature of the order. Until we realize this hard fact and stop dealing with illusions about Natural law, we will never be able to control the power of the law by such means as suggested in the other Essays printed here.