Why the Law:
“Even secular ethical systems… are still incomplete because they don’t offer a basis for human dignity and worth.”v
-Paul Copan (Is God a Moral Monster?)
If there was once a time when no person wrote any law, then there must have been some purpose for the creation of human-written laws and codes. There was necessarily some human condition that was undesirable. So undesirable, in fact, that laws were written to keep people from acting undesirably. If this was not so, no law would ever be written. Thus, whether initiated by God or people, law was written for a specific purpose. Did this mean that there was also a way for the law to be fulfilled? Where would human-written law ultimately find its fulfillment?
Senator Hardin sat down next to the others and Huddles addressed the crew of renegades, “We have to move from here and now will be the best time to do so. The police are focused on the manhunt.”
The crew packed up everything there. Zack and T.J. checked to make sure their guns were loaded and concealed well. There was an underground garage for the building they were in. They all loaded into two vans and departed. The anarchist and the preacher drove while everyone else hid in the back. The vans took two different routes to the destination.
At this point, Melissa was on the road in a car she did not own. She stopped twice to fill up and once when she arrived in Greenville to ditch the car. There would be a presidential debate at The Peace Center and Hardin was alive. Since the senator was alive, her financial well would quickly dry up and she would not be able to support her sister. Even though the Senator was late into the race, his chances of winning his party’s nomination were high.
Melissa arrived at a hotel near the center and paid cash in advance to reserve a room for the month and began attending events at the center; planning both her approach and escape. She only needed to be sure that the senator would actually be participating in the debates.
She watched each one live, and it wasn’t until January 28, three weeks before the debates were scheduled to be at the center that she saw the senator. This meant that all of her planning would not be in vain. She watched closely as Hardin answered his very first question from the moderator.
“Senator Hardin, this is your first public debate. Why have you waited so long to join this race?”
Hardin smiled, “Normally I would use the phrase ‘Someone has been trying to kill me’ facetiously, but in this case it’s true. Some time ago this party asked if I would be interested in running. I said no, but people seem to like the fact that I will fight for them as equals. So, that’s what I’ve based my whole campaign on.”
“Mr. Despot, you look like you have a thought.”
“Yes, I have some thoughts. Of course I have thoughts,” another candidate pointed all five fingers toward Hardin, “Your talking like no one else here is interested in equality or fighting for the American people. Let me tell ya, there are a lot of good people here who believe in equality, especially me. And I definitely want to fight for people because that’s the only way you can make America great!”
The audience applauded and Hardin responded, “Mr. Despot, I did not want to insinuate the viewpoint of anyone else. I am sure you do a great job fighting for your equals as you take their money and make yourself rich. I apologize.”
The moderator spoke up before Despot could continue, “Senator Hardin, you stated during your announcement for candidacy that ‘any good law strives to increase the wisdom of the people and leads to life so that people can be trusted to make decisions and be granted liberty through the law.’ What exactly do you mean by, liberty through the law?”
“That’s a great question,” Hardin began, “I will begin not by reciting some memorized and rehearsed monologue about why I am a better candidate than everyone else here, but by reciting the preamble to the United States Constitution:
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”vi
It seems to me that our constitution, the guide to the creation of our laws and to the being of our society, states a purpose for itself and for other document that depend on it. Part of that purpose is ‘Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity,’ My statement is simple. If our law does not bring about liberty for the American people as a whole, it has no reason being written. Furthermore, if a law has a purpose, and all laws must, then there is a way for that purpose to be realized. Sadly, if the people are not free, then United States law fails to accomplish its own purpose and fails to be law under our own constitution.
In this town, Zack was in a hotel room across the street from where the debate was being held. His rifle was perched on a bipod and he was sitting in a chair behind it overlooking the parking lot where Hardin would exit the building. This is where he had to work. His face would alert those officers who cared to remember him while also searching for Melissa. He knew T.J. was posted in the parking lot in the back of the van with Data. Huddles and the preacher were inside unarmed and the anarchist was sitting on a park bench outside of the debate auditorium.
Hardin let people believe that he was dead. Zack was framed, charged and almost accused for his murder, Zack forced the investigation to be reopened, people died, Melissa was found out and now a dangerous game of cat and mouse ensued. The police were looking for Melissa. They were also looking for T.J. and Zack. Huddles was dodging the police and looking for Melissa. Zack had become her trigger finger.
Melissa was hiding from the police and Zack while trying to correct her misfire. The chaos was elegant. Cause and effect…
The debate was over and a massive crowd began to emerge from the building. Most went to their cars and waited in the long line to exit the parking lot, but few waited patiently. Zack watched closely as a person wearing a hoody walked quickly toward the van. He readied his rifle as the person got closer and closer. Zack got ready to place his finger on the trigger when the person switched directions. Not that anyone should ever get curious about a big black van at a political debate; Zack was just on edge.
Hardin began packing up his notes and one of the journalists got his attention, “Senator, can I get an interview.”
“What channel?” Hardin replied without even turning around, “and are you interested in my position or my story?”
“I’m interested in why…”
Hardened turned around, “Why, what? Young man?” “I’m interested in why you have done all this just to run for President.”
Hardin sat down with the young man, “Put your notes away for a moment.” He did and the senator continued, “I do this because the American people deserve a president who will genuinely fight for them and who will not scheme to make higher dependence look like liberty or civil rights or marriage equality. To put things simply, I’m just plain tired of tyranny. Now you can pick your notes back up. What is your first question?”
“Well,” the young man picked his notes up, “What do you mean when you say laws can be fulfilled? We all know that laws have a purpose. Murder is against the law to keep us from killing each other, but how is a law fulfilled?”
“Every law points to something,” the senator began, “If it points to the power of a king, then it fulfills its purpose as the king remains in power. If it points to the domination of a certain political party, then its purpose is fulfilled as that political party retains its rule. If it points to one group of people over another, which is the sad case for many of the laws being written in our country today, then its purpose is to subject all other people under that group. If it points to democracy, then it enables the equal representation of all groups. If it points to liberty, then it removes all domination.
I might even ask what the purpose is of law in general. If the purpose is to create a perfect society, our own Elysium, then the only way to fulfill law is to accomplish a perfect society and we all have our ideals about what it means to be a perfect society. Now human law has been around for at least a few thousand years and not one society has accomplished its purpose. This means we are always having to reevaluate our own law and constantly tweak it toward perfection, but this is something that we cannot accomplish by having any agenda other than that of democracy and liberty.”
The young reporter took the time to write down every word as quickly as he could listen and then asked another question, “Do you think a perfect society is actually achievable?”
“Not by human hands,” The senator spoke candidly, “I know that faith is a big deal for many of the other candidates and I admire that about them; but while so many people are concerned with where thy stand on the issues I recognize that we simply can’t know everything about those issues and in many cases even we don’t have enough information to declare a well reasoned position. We can strive to help create a perfect society, but the truth is that we cannot know the consequences of the decisions we will make; and this is where my faith comes in. Faith is not just a big deal to me, Christ is everything and that is one of the things that sets me apart as a candidate. My agenda is to honor Christ and that is why I can see all people as equal and why I can fight for the liberty of all people. After all, God created all people and Christ died for all people.
This means that the New Earth becomes for us our Elysium, where law is fulfilled. In fact, Christ even claimed during His life on Earth that He came not to do away with the Jewish law, but to fulfill it. The purpose of that law was to bring people to God, to perfection. People couldn’t follow that law perfectly. In fact, it revealed the fallenness of people.
Christ came and closed the gap so that through faith people can be restored to God and a perfect, eternal society might be formed.
Here is how this impacts my campaign and my whole life: If perfect society is found in Christ, then I recognize that human law will never get us there. This means necessarily that Christ is the fulfillment of not only ancient Jewish law, but of law in general. The existence of law points to Christ and its fulfillment is found in Christ. This means that in considering law, my agenda is not to please one group or another, but instead to enable a greater degree of liberty for each American. This question of liberty, which is only fulfilled in Christ, is the only question on my mind as I think about the issues, the law and policy that the presidential office deals with. Will this action enable freedom for the American people? If the answer is yes, then the action is a worthy pursuit. If there is any debate, then we discover together: a complete bipartisan effort. If the answer is no, then we do not pursue the action. We can strive for Heaven on earth knowing that ultimate fulfillment is found only in Christ and only in the eternal kingdom of God, but we have to deny ourselves and be humble as we serve the American people.”
If Christ was the fulfillment of law, then perfect society could only be found in Him. True liberty could only be found in Him. The restoration of reason could only be found in Him. Human law could never achieve absolute liberty. Only an eternal law could do that, a law that was written on the hearts of people: a natural law with inalienable rights for all people equally. If there was a God, though, who created the cosmos and who fulfills law, why would He create such a cosmos where there needed to be fulfillment? Would not His creation and societies within His creation already be perfect and without need of law to fulfill perfection in them? Was there a cause that also brought about this effect of imperfection in human society?
Zack, still observing the people in the parking lot, saw Huddles come out of the building followed closely by Senator Hardin and the preacher. As they approached the van, someone in the care next to it opened the door. Zack looked through his scope to get a better look. It was detective Casey. What if he were to discover T.J. in the back of the van, Senator Hardin’s van? Not only would his race for the presidency be over, but he might be charged with aiding and abetting a fugitive. Since Casey was, by all indication, one of the good guys, all Zack could do was watch. Perhaps if he discovered T.J. he would help as he did in the courtroom earlier in this dramatic conspiration. For now, though, a new question remained to be answered: what was the purpose of the attempted crime? What was the plan to fulfill that purpose and why did Elliot’s education bill play such a large role?
After speaking to the senator for a few minutes, Casey got back into his car and drove away. Now it was on to the next city and the next campaign destination.