Ever wondered how fair governments are? Is it lone individuals, or is there something fundamentally wrong with the way government’s are organised. In the UK yesterday, the Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling ordered that all assets held in Britain by a troubled Icelandic bank be seized in order to protect the interests of British depositors with funds in the Iceland bank. There are several problems with this:
1. He used anti-terrorism legislation in order to seize the assets
2. He effectively placed Britain’s interests above those of bank depositors in general.
This was a gross misuse of authority for several reasons:
1. British banks which loaned funds to the Icelandic bank are more culpable for the Iceland bank failure than any depositors
2. British depositors should rank equally with all other depositors
3. The Chancellor is over-extending himself on this issue, using powers he does not have. It’s a total misuse of power. There is no element of terrorism, and it highlights the danger of countries enacting legislation in times of emergency
4. The capacity of governments to act this way highlights the dangers of arbitrary rule, and undermines the credibility of the justice system
We need to draw a distinction between the two elements of the justice system. There is the part of the justice system concerned with common land, which is basically logical. Then there is the enacted laws which are approved by parliament. It is these laws which cause all the grief because they are arbitrary. It matters little whether they are created for the purpose intended, misused or serving the interests of the country, they are immoral. The parliament of each country needs to be abolished and a few framework needs to be established on a similar framework to common law – a framework based on reason. Reason permits no contradictions or arbitrary actions as we have seen evidenced today. Such actions reflects flaws in Western constitutions. It is not so much a loophole in the law as an illogical legal structure inherent in the constitutions of all Western governments, which are for the most part based on the UK model of governance. There will come a time when others will question this model – just as I have been doing. Mind you, I could be labelled a terrorist in a number of countries for questioning the validity of the constitution. Need I say more! Reason has been quashed by coercion. Well....not quite.
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Andrew Sheldon www.sheldonthinks.com
1. He used anti-terrorism legislation in order to seize the assets
2. He effectively placed Britain’s interests above those of bank depositors in general.
This was a gross misuse of authority for several reasons:
1. British banks which loaned funds to the Icelandic bank are more culpable for the Iceland bank failure than any depositors
2. British depositors should rank equally with all other depositors
3. The Chancellor is over-extending himself on this issue, using powers he does not have. It’s a total misuse of power. There is no element of terrorism, and it highlights the danger of countries enacting legislation in times of emergency
4. The capacity of governments to act this way highlights the dangers of arbitrary rule, and undermines the credibility of the justice system
We need to draw a distinction between the two elements of the justice system. There is the part of the justice system concerned with common land, which is basically logical. Then there is the enacted laws which are approved by parliament. It is these laws which cause all the grief because they are arbitrary. It matters little whether they are created for the purpose intended, misused or serving the interests of the country, they are immoral. The parliament of each country needs to be abolished and a few framework needs to be established on a similar framework to common law – a framework based on reason. Reason permits no contradictions or arbitrary actions as we have seen evidenced today. Such actions reflects flaws in Western constitutions. It is not so much a loophole in the law as an illogical legal structure inherent in the constitutions of all Western governments, which are for the most part based on the UK model of governance. There will come a time when others will question this model – just as I have been doing. Mind you, I could be labelled a terrorist in a number of countries for questioning the validity of the constitution. Need I say more! Reason has been quashed by coercion. Well....not quite.
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Andrew Sheldon www.sheldonthinks.com
