And it struck me that this does not mean "The State is Great."
Similarly, the Lord's Prayer which asks for God's Will to be done on Earth, laments the fact that down here, only men rule - arbitrarily and unjustly - and not God. The prayer asks for His Will to rule down here.
What is God's Will?
Frederic Bastiat, a devout Catholic, answered correctly when he wrote:
To believe in Liberty is to believe in God - and have faith in His creation: Man.
Man is "naturally honest." There are thieves and pickpockets - but they are a minority. In India, the State Police rob street vendors of their surpluses: huftha. They do not "maintain order." The order we see every day exists only because the vast majority are naturally honest.
Similarly, Adam Smith's "invisible hand" is nothing but the Hand of God - and he believed in "natural religion."
How does this invisible hand work?
As Smith said, all of us have been blessed by our Divine Creator with "a natural propensity to truck, barter and exchange." We are born to trade. Little children can be seen trading: Give me a bite of your chocolate and I'll give you a sip of my cola. This is their "natural propensity" at work. Because we are all possessed of this propensity, we specialise in the market economy's "division of labour" and exchange our surpluses for the surpluses of others. All these surpluses constitute our wealth. This is the way the "wealth of nations" is created.
This natural propensity to trade includes the "natural justice" of Property - for even the little child knows the difference between "mine" and "thine." It is because of this innate "sense of justice" that our bustling bazaars exhibit perfect order - a "natural order." We are all "rule-following" animals - and the basic rule we all follow is the Inviolability of Property.
If we want God's Will to rule over us, then the "artificial order" of State Power - tariffs, legislation, and the rest - must be dumped. Then, God will rule - not arbitrary men.
Bastiat penned an essay distinguishing "natural order" from "artificial order." Socialists and "social engineers" aim for an "artificial order," he said. This is why they despise the institution of Private Property. Under them, the Law becomes a thief - because the law violates Property: land acquisition, nationalisation, legislation, regulation, interventionism, immigration controls - the visa-passport regime - etc.
Further, only when Property is Inviolable, will we be possessed of Liberty. Then, the ganja farmer will be the Proprietor of his fields - and his crop will not be destroyed by State Agents "empowered" by arbitrary Legislation, which embodies the "will of a few."
This is the Freedom our ancestors fought for but could never attain, because all that the CONgress gave them was The State. It is time we realised that The State is nothing but the negation of Liberty. To be free means nothing other than to be free from State interference.
In my earlier post, I spoke of mayors who are themselves merchants running cities and towns independently using locally raised resources, presiding over the natural order of the urban catallaxy. It is noteworthy that the motto of the Olde City of London is Domini Dirige Nos - which translates to "Let God be our Guide." To achieve this, they did the obvious - and kept their king out of their City.
We must therefore beware of businessmen who depend on State Power - the cronies of the establishment. The natural order is about laissez faire. This is the "Anarchy of Competition."
Thus, if your "ship comes in" and you prosper, you say Subhaan Allah.
And if your business fails you say Insha Allah - and try your hand at some other business.
That is, you "submit" to the Will of God - and Islam means "submission." In a market economy, we all must "adjust our conduct" to the conditions of the market.
If you, on the other hand, ask The State to use its powers of compulsion and coercion to prevent your business from failing, then you will be inviting The Devil to interfere in human affairs - and the Kingdom of God will be blown away. The Devil will then manipulate the market for your benefit - while causing losses to all others: the people, the consumers, your customers. Dylan is the one who got it absolutely right when he sang:
It may be the Devil,
Or it may be the Lord,
But you gotta serve somebody.
In the market, if you want to serve the Lord, all you gotta serve is the Customer.
I have often told students that street vendors perform "social service" and are in reality "social workers."
This is the only social work we need - and "social justice" is bull. It is actually injustice - because it is financed by inflation and taxation. Do read the second volume of Friedrich Hayek's Law, Legislation & Liberty, which is titled "The Mirage of Social Justice."
In the natural order of the urban catallaxy, there is "natural justice" - Property, Contracts and Torts. This is all "private law." This is the pathway to a Kingdom of God on this earth we inhabit. We have rules - but we have no rulers, other than God, whom everyone worships in his own way.
Natural religion.
Natural law.
Natural justice.
Natural order.
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