The Cross Section - RMB Blog

  The Ethics Of Liberty by Murray Rothbard As the title suggests the whole chapter is about these two types of law.  There are several distinctions between natural law and positive law, even though there can be some overlap.  To start,  positive law is any law that has been written down and enacted by a government.  It is man made.  Natural law is not man made.  It is not always written down or enacted by government.  It exists even when there is no government in existence as it is a part of God's created order. Positive laws can be just or unjust because they have no basis other than the whims of rulers.  Natural law is never unjust because it is based on human nature, logic, and objective, absolute values.  Therefore, natural law is able to critique positive laws and those rulers who enact them.                 "the very existence of natural law ... is a potentially  powerfu...

  In chapter 2, Rothbard explains the basis of natural law and why it is important.  He also continues to address skeptics' objections. Part of accepting the existence of natural law is accepting the fact that everything in existence has a nature.  That nature determines the attributes of the things and also how different things interact with one another.  Philosophically the nature of a thing can also be thought of as a Platonic form.  There is a form of a chair which is the ideal chair.  The form represents perfectly what a chair is supposed to be and what it is supposed to do.  All chairs in existence are linked to the form as imperfect examples of it.  So the form of chair specifies the attributes that all chairs share, including their proper use.  You could also call it the natural law of chairs .  Particular chairs are examples of the universal form.  No two chairs are exactly the same, but they are all chairs.    ...

Since last  year, I have had the intention to read through Murray Rothbard's "The Ethics Of Liberty" and record my thoughts on it in this blog.  I read chapter 1 a couple of months ago but still couldn't find the time to do any writing.  I can't promise a consistent schedule going forward, but I decided I couldn't wait any longer to start.  Written in 1982, "The Ethics Of Liberty" is Rothbard's attempt to formulate a political theory based on libertarian principles and ethics. The subject of chapter 1 is something called natural law, and the theme is that natural law is neither religious nor irreligious.  Rothbard's purpose is to convince the audience that religious faith isn't required to discover natural law, but at the same time it isn't opposed to faith either. At the start of the book, he describes several factions debating political philosophy.  The first faction believes that "human nature" exists.  The other denies t...

  A couple of years ago I was thinking about a slogan for my family.  A verse from James came to mind. James 3:13 Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. The word “good” there is the Greek word kalos .  It commonly means beautiful like in the word calligraphy, which means beautiful writing.  The “calli” comes from kalos , if that wasn’t obvious.  The idea is that wisdom produces a beautiful life. The idea of living a beautiful life sounded like a really good goal for me and my family. So I started thinking about how I could capture this idea in a short but meaningful statement. I added a few related, key elements to give it some meat. Through Wisdom: Righteousness, Freedom, Beauty Thinking through it, the beginning of wisdom is fearing the Lord according to Proverbs, making our relationship to God foundational. Wisdom leads us to God. Then once we have a relationship with Him it info...

  This article will cover what the Bible says about two overlapping subjects, money and trade.  I define trade as two people exchanging goods or services either directly or through the use of money.  Money is simply a medium of exchange or trade.  It allows trade to cost less time, effort, and resources.   We all know trade can occur with or without using money.  We have all swapped lunch items in the school cafeteria or have seen it occur.  Maybe your mom wouldn't give you a dessert.  If you wanted a dessert and you had something else of value like Cheetos, there was still hope.  Maybe there was a kid at your table who didn't really like her Twinkies.  Now there was an opportunity for both to get what we wanted.  No money was needed to trade the Twinkies for the Cheetos.  However, you had to find someone who wanted what you had more than what they had.  You also had to want what they had more than what you had. This ...

One of the major themes in the Bible is God’s redemption of the nation of Israel.  God made a promise of land to the sons of Abraham, but generations later his descendants were enslaved in Egypt.  From Exodus to Joshua, you see the activity of God to bring them out of that slavery and into a new land that He had promised them long ago.  He promised them freedom.  On Mount Sinai God gave Moses the laws He wanted the nation of Israel to live by, so that they could experience freedom.  Previously, I focused on the laws against charging usury (interest) to the poor who needed to borrow money for necessities.  Now, I would like to look at another economic aspect of the Mosaic law, the establishment of private property. First, we will look at the books of Joshua and Leviticus to understand how land was distributed and who in effect had ownership.  Then we can think about why private property was so important to accomplishing God’s goals for Israel.  As ...

  Sometimes I write poems.  This is the first one I have put on this page.  Hope it sparks thought and encourages anyone needing encouragement. Bless me God!  Bless those around me! Not because we deserve it. We deserve pain and punishment Much less this abundant nourishment. "I live sweat but I dream light years", (D Boon forever) Such lofty thoughts piled on top of beers. Honest thoughts collect into seas of tears. No hope but for gospel tracks to erase those years. Be humble yet radical, pointed but not strange Tailor the message to one not the whole shebang. Caught by my own indecision, lost in the moment. For spirit and truth we pray in light of our lament. But the other party works independently the message whisked away from you so casually. Beyond hope beyond grace beyond imagination Inhaled and exhaled in rooms of stagnation I didn't die. I would  never kill! Where is the gospel when I breathe so freely? My sin apparent to eyes that peer more clearly,...

In my previous article I wrote about God’s prohibition to Israel against charging interest or usury in Leviticus 25.  It was such an important command that He gave it two more times in Exodus 22 and Deuteronomy 23.  To refresh our minds, please read Leviticus 25:35-37 again.   Leviticus 25:35-37 35  Now in case a countryman of yours becomes poor and his means with regard to you falter, then you are to sustain him, like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you. 36 Do not take usurious interest from him, but revere your God, that your countryman may live with you. 37 You shall not give him your silver at interest, nor your food for gain.   Let’s think further about the results of charging interest, the alternatives to it, and why God made it such a point to prohibit the behavior in Israel. The first thing to realize is that lending with interest can increase the money supply.  It is common for banks to give out bank notes instead of hard curren...

  The summer of 1994.  Kurt Cobain was dead.  I was in my second year at the University of Texas.  I took a test on rock and roll history the week Cobain had died. I wasn't bothered, but others in my class cried openly.  I finished the Spring semester and decided to stay in town for the summer and find work.  I worked with my friend and roommate who got me a landscaping job. Other than my friend T Jay, I worked alongside felons and illegal immigrants.  The felons told stories about distributing cocaine while working at Tyson chicken.  Skeptical.  Not skeptical.  The illegals all liked Selena, not so much for her music.  I lived just North of campus on Medical Arts Parkway.  It was a flea infested place with a failing AC in the middle of a Texas summer, brutal.  Mid-way through the summer T Jay moved back to my hometown when the felons we worked for decided not to pay us anymore.  After asking them a couple of times fo...