Righteous laws create community

In his Jan. 7 letter, Donald Daw stated, “Government is the highest form of community.” Such sentiment is antithetical to the spirit of 1776. Thomas Paine’s pamphlet, “Common Sense,” put the spirit of 1776 into words, and helped coalesce the patriots of the American Revolution.

In it he wrote the following: “Some writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins. Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last a punisher. Society in every state is a blessing, but Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil ….”

At its core, government resorts to coercive powers to obtain desired human behaviors. Whether government is a dictatorship, a democracy or something in-between, its power to confiscate people’s property, imprison and execute people ultimately enforces external laws. It is righteous laws written in the hearts of individuals through love and reason that creates the highest form of community.

Duncan Bean

Spokane Valley