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A deep and fearful misunderstanding

One of the most ancient — and certainly one of the most fundamental — rights of any British citizen is the right to a fair trial. One of the basic justifications for the state is that it protects us from unjust attempts to deprive us of our liberty. So who would have believed that in the 21st century, the Government would connive in the systematic denial of that right to its citizens?

Umm, no, that\’s not a justification for the State at all.

The justification for the State is that there are some things which have to be done both communally and non-voluntarily. The justification for the fair trial bit, the whole civil liberties bit, is that having handed over the monopoly of legitimate violence to the State we therefore need defence from that State.

The right to a fair trial is our defence against an over-eager, over-zealous and even over-bearing State.

Now that we\’ve corrected that misapprehension why the State is happy to connive in systematic denial is obvious. Reducing our powers of protection against the State increase the power of the State over us.

What bureaucracy would not like, desire, that?

1 thought on “A deep and fearful misunderstanding”

  1. We have not handed over a monoply of lawful violence to the state, nor should we. There are many occasions when violence is lawful, such as when necessary to eject someone from your property, whether it is your house, a shopping centre or a nightclub.

    Further we should resist the notion that any civilised country has done so.

    Since it is basically propaganda in the service of the notion that they *ought* to do so.

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