Natural Law

Natural law is an important topic, and almost never gets discussed in depth, but somehow inevitably ends up in the conversation. This is because it's not properly defined for most people, and many times it gets brought up without anyone having heard that this is a real noun with a word and full definition.

"Natural law, or the law of nature (Latin: lex naturalis), is a system of law that is determined by nature, and so is universal. Classically, natural law refers to the use of reason to analyze human nature — both social and personal — and deduce binding rules of moral behavior from it."

- Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_law

     In other words, it's actually just law based on science. Natural law always gives us many options for how individual and groups can behave with one another. Natural law is determinable by (near)everyone with their sense of empathy, provided they didn't have it destroyed through trauma in their development phases. Most people have some idea of what empathy is, but few have the mental focus to combine what is learned from empathy and always commit it to real conduct outside. 

     Natural law is a law based on feelings and messages (both verbal and nonverbal, if applicable). It is the knowledge that certain messages will create certain feelings within the receiver, which are meant to provoke a response for the sender to acknowledge. We all have a basic knowledge about how these cause and effect relations work by the time we're adults. These are simply common laws of nature most people accept without hesitation. 

For example (generally speaking):

- Don't physically attack anyone without cause, that will provoke a strong negative response from everyone.

- Don't be passive aggressive with members of your family, the other person get the real message later rather than sooner.

- Don't invade a home in which the owner has a gun. Anything can happen.

- Don't try to kidnap a bear's cubs. The mother bear will attempt to kill you.

These statements are all rooted in causal relationships reasonably expected in general from the nature of reality. Kids may have problems understanding these relationships, but overtime people learn through experience and also learn to figure out misunderstandings without escalating conflicts anymore than necessary. Among individuals, this is natural law. Most individuals get along with one another perfectly well through this "common legal system of the people".

Groups and governments also know this legal system is commonly understood by their allies and opponents, but often act in complete disregard of these principles. Betraying common law is never without cost though, which the government can only recuperate by threatening and stealing from the citizens through taxes and inflation. Natural law also dictates this can't work forever. A blundering government constantly seeking to cover up their mistakes by passing the costs to other will soon find itself with no more hosts left.

There are other ways people misinterpret natural law as well. 

Notice the teacher telling the child his natural right to sit and stand came from the state. However, only a state can obstruct a natural right (such as to sit during a pledge) through violence. The state can't "grant" this natural option to a paraplegic, only to people who possess the right to stand or sit naturally already.

- When government bans a drug, the drug is never eradicated. The market simply moves underground and cartels may take over if the trade is lucrative enough. Open markets eliminate cartels, and the government is simply on a mad quest to fight human nature (or economics) itself. Most supporters of the drug war believe enacting the law keeps the drug under control, when in fact the higher black market prices encourages producers.

- When a parent punishes their child for doing wrong, it teaches the child nothing about why what they did was wrong, only that they shouldn't be caught doing it. The parent erroneously believes punishment proves to the child the activity is no longer a good idea.

- When a couple engages in hurtful "mind games" with itself. Each member of the couple believes plausible deniability can save them from ever getting caught, but eventually the coincidences and body language changes can send the couple going toward a sudden eruption of emotion. 

Force and hurtful intentions in general, (no matter how concealed) beget resistance. This is natural law, and natural law applies to all. Naturally, most people think it's smart to be on the side of natural law.

"Communism is simply the next stage in history. Capitalism is obsolete. This is because the workers have all the real power and as soon as they realize this, communism will take over and private property can be abolished. Communism is better in all ways than capitalism at everything, and therefore its takeover is inevitable. All humans would benefit from communism, so they will fight to establish it."

"Eventually, the black market will starve the state. This is because the true producers in society will simply have too little incentive left to continue trying to prop up the American society and government, and will prefer to a voluntary system of private property. The dollar will hyperinflate, and true capitalism will be restored. Capitalism is better than all philosophies that demand non-voluntary interactions. Human nature loves capitalism and will fight to restore it. This is inevitable."

"Civilization will bring itself to a toxic climax eventually and a major ecological catastrophe will wipe out global civilization as we know it. The only people left will be those that chose to exit civilization and live in harmony with nature. The imbalance civilized people feel because of their soul-less culture causes them to "de-humanize" the environment and harm things they actually depend on. When civilization collapses, even if it's just a few native Americans high in the Andes, the time of the primitivist will return. Nature loves harmony, and the steady march of evolution will shed the non-essential parts. This is inevitable."

Many other notable historical figures and documents have cited their support and appeal for societies to conform to natural law, as best as people know it.

Natural law theories have ... exercised a profound influence on the development of English common law,and have featured greatly in the philosophies of Thomas Aquinas, Francisco Suárez, Richard Hooker, Thomas Hobbes, Hugo Grotius,Samuel von Pufendorf, John Locke, Francis Hutcheson, Jean Jacques Burlamaqui, and Emmerich de Vattel. Because of the intersection between natural law and natural rights, it has been cited as a component in the United States Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States, as well as in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. Declarationism states that the founding of the United States is based on Natural law.

- Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_law

Plato was also a fan of natural law.

According to Plato we live in an orderly universe. At the basis of this orderly universe or nature are the forms, most fundamentally the Form of the Good, which Plato describes as "the brightest region of Being". The Form of the Good is the cause of all things and when it is seen it leads a person to act wisely. In the Symposium, the Good is closely identified with the Beautiful. Also in the Symposium, Plato describes how the experience of the Beautiful by Socrates enables him to resist the temptations of wealth and sex. In the Republic, the ideal community is, "...a city which would be established in accordance with nature."

- Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_law

The United States of course, has largely no idea what natural law is or that its government is on a mad quest to destroy it from people's minds. To think about natural law demands independent critical thinking, because by definition it is a system of ethics and reasoning which one has to look for beyond authority to find.