The End of Gun Control: 5.3 Private Property and Self-Governance
The two pillars of political-economy (money and security-justice functions), remain in the hands of We The People, abiding in natural law so as to prevent any distortions from political intervention.
The only legitimate function of public officials and political representatives in a private property legal order is to determine who will perform specific security and justice functions (police, military, and courts), and in what manner they will be carried out. The largest political factor of consideration in this regard is how these functions will be funded.
In other words, the biggest question to address is how resources will be allocated within a political community for the provision of security and justice. Legislation, then, is not about creating law but orchestrating the contract for security and justice services on behalf of a constituent group.
Here again, the private property standard guards against abuse in the principal agent-relationship. Public officials are entrusted to act as the agents of individuals within a given political unit, to make decisions on behalf of their constituents as to how resources are directed in the performance of security and justice services.
The resources we are discussing here usually come in the form of taxes delivered to the public treasury or created through either debt (government bonds) or manipulation of official tender (creating Federal Reserve Notes, in the case of the United States).
The perennial question with which all public officials must contend is how much should be directed toward the various security and justice functions carried out by service agencies, and when.
This too offers tremendous latitude to public officials to direct resources, supposedly in the name of security and justice, toward pet projects or other ‘pork barrel’ spending. This is where the opportunity for corruption, servicing agendas, buying support, and a whole host of political tricks creeps in. Even the most selfless and well-intentioned political actor cannot avoid inserting their own preferences into policy, and the tax-paying public needs to remain vigilant of this dynamic.
Remember, Benjamin Franklin had a vested interest in winning the contract for printing colonial scrip and therefore agitated for paper money. Unbacked paper currency in the hands of politicians during the revolution and its aftermath led to financial chaos and the money in circulation “not being worth a Continental”, yet Franklin is still revered despite this corruption. This same phenomenon, of politicians and bureaucrats directing spending from the public treasury for their own benefit, occurs presently at an unfathomably amplified rate at all levels of government.
This is why We The People must “execute the laws of the union” and ensure constitutional order is followed. Once enforced, monetary policy for the United States would be gold and silver, purchased on the open market at floating prices adjusted by supply and demand, and then “coined” by the general government according to fixed weights and measures.
Here we see that both purse and sword, the two pillars of political-economy (meaning money and security-justice functions), remain in the hands of We The People and abide in natural law so as to prevent any distortions from political intervention. That is what constitutional order looks like in practice, market-chosen commodity money and organic, local self-government.
That is what We The People lose by affording politicians and bureaucrats monopoly jurisdiction over money and security-justice.