Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are a lot of people who live in places that are essentially lawless, but that experience isn't freedom like extreme libertarians might believe. It's total fear that at any moment 20 people in shitty Jeeps can drive up and threaten to cut off your hands unless you kill your parents and join their gang. This is what we refer to as the state of nature. At some point, people get pretty tired of it, so they form the…
> The rule of law is a bedrock principle of human civilization The article is not advocating abandoning the rule of law. It is advocating judging laws based on a particular criterion. The fact that many existing laws do not meet that criterion does not mean no laws do, nor does it mean the only alternative is to abandon laws altogether. For example, consider the law against murder. Does it meet the criterion? Of cour…
It's just a blatantly terrible test, wrapped up in faux wisdom and scare tactics. Balancing of rights is far more complicated than this and deserves better treatment. In fact, _most_ issues are complicated and don't readily yield to this kind of simple test. Frustrating though it is, it's a reality we have to deal with if we want to be at all fair and truly address complex issues.