I look forward all of this scholars writing “Rule-of-Law” fanfiction where the protagonists and antagonists live and interact in a society with a system of mostly reasonable laws and law enforcement. Definitely now categorized as Speculative Fiction.
Why do people talk about law as if it has any sort of substance? If all the books were burnt we would only be able to faithfully reproduce the science books, everything else is just some stuff we made up.
In 1241 the danish king signed the first major law of the land. The law itself is pretty much outdated, but its preamble is still a very useful explanation of ‘why laws?’
Allow me to quote it fully and then mark a few bits that I consider important in 2025.
With law shall the country be built but if all men were content with what is theirs and let others enjoy the same right, there would be no need for a law. But no law is as good as the truth, but if one wonders what the truth is, then shall the law show the truth. If the land had no law, then he would have the most who could grab the most by force… The law must be honest, just, reasonable and according to the ways of the people. It must meet their needs and speak plainly, so that all men may know and understand, what the law is. It is not to be made in any man’s favor, but for the needs of all them who live in the land. No man shall judge contrary to the law, which the king has given and the country chosen. […] neither shall he [the king] take it back without the will of the people.
Now, this, of course is just a tiny local law based on ideas from the countries further to the south of denmark. But it holds some concepts that all who dabble in lawmaking ought to consider.
They will be indispensable for documenting, for historians, what it was like when the United States still had law.
We don’t need historians. We need people who are willing to risk their career to put up a fight. Documenting is just a word for being a bystander and let it happen.
The Palantir threat model specifically says only a fringe will put up a fight right now.
There’s a projected line in the sand where people stand up, but so long as you stay on one side, you’re safe, and the scary thing is, you can push that line and it will move.
The plan is to be super aggressive now to move the line, then 12 months from now to act all domestic abuser who regrets it and love bombing to cancel out most of the anger before the midterms.
In their defense, this is exactly how Reagan did it and it worked.
You need both.
You need people to fight now, and people to document the shit out of this to cut through as much propaganda as possible for the future.
The current regime has already started to rewrite history, documenting the truth is putting up a fight!