As I was rereading MLK's Letter From Birmingham Jail for my paper, one line really jumped out on me.
"We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was "legal" and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was "illegal.""
When you think about this it is really something quite obvious, but I feel it is very easily overlooked. The fact that something so atrocious can be in fact "legal" has to make us rethink our view of positive law.
While I think it's quite clear we couldn't live without positive law, this shows us we must never rely on positive law alone. We must always consider natural law and that must come first if we are to ensure such tragedy does not happen again. In his letter, MLK goes on to say, "I am sure that, had I lived in Germany at the time, I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers." I think we all must have this view. While it is doubtful any of us will ever face a situation of the same magnitude, the fact remains the same - if injustice is taking place, we must stand up for our beliefs even in the face of positive law.
That being said, we should still never forget the principles our country was founded on.
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Its our duty as the citizens to make sure the positive law properly reflects natural law. It it doesn't, the faults in us. We are slaves for not practicing parrhesia and acting as the counter force to the wheels of government. We CAN rely on positive law if we all perform are duty at citizens, our duty as humans to the rest of humanity.
ReplyDeleteI miss School House Rock.
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