“Seek Social Justice” (Part Five)

[Part 5 of 6 in my review of the Seek Social Justice study from the Heritage Foundation and WORLD Magazine]

In this fifth (and penultimate) section of the study we arrive where the first four sections have been leading. In this section we shift, in a sense, from what Heritage argues the government should not be doing to what it is in fact responsible for.

Maintaining the Social Conditions for Justice: The Role of Government takes as its case study the story of an Egyptian teenager who as a child had been trafficked to Orange County, California to work as a slave in a really posh neighborhood. Trafficking is so egregious and is so prevalent virtually everywhere that every politician and every citizen should be able to agree that immediate action is required. So in that sense this is a great issue for the study to highlight.

I was a bit surprised, though, that in addressing the question of the role of government, the study seemed to focus on law enforcement alone. Is that really all the government should be doing? The Preamble to the Constitution, for what it's worth, lists several things. But because the study focuses on law enforcement I'll do the same here.

According to Heritage: "Government's role is to sustain an overall environment of safety, order, freedom, and peace. That includes upholding justice through laws and responding to threats to social harmony." Meanwhile, says Sean Litton of International Justice Mission, when legal systems break down or are not enforced, what generally happens is that the strong take advantage of the weak.

Seen in that light, it becomes quite clear that the government has a big job to do in providing these conditions in which civil society can do its thing. And in the case of trafficking, we see pretty clearly how government and civil society can work together, each working from their respective strengths. Freeing a slave and ensuring that the perpetrator cannot continue to exploit others requires police officers and investigators and prosecutors, but the enormous task of bringing some semblance of healing to a victim falls almost entirely outside the realm of the government. For this we can be thankful for and supportive of groups that have taken on this urgent and incalculably needed undertaking.

The study emphasizes the importance that the state has a monopoly on the use of force in order to protect civil society. In the video we clearly see the police using proper force to bring slave owners to justice. Plus, when you consider the nasty legacy of groups like the KKK and the more recently formed rogue militias that have emerged in our society, it's easy to see why the state's monopoly on the use of force is so important.

On the other hand...

...we know all too well that those who have monopolies on power and force don't always use it justly. So hand-in-hand with this monopoly needs to be transparency, and those who have been entrusted with this monopoly can in no sense be immune from penetrating and potentially damning questions. Think Rios Montt. Think Pol Pot. Think Jim Crow. Monopolies on power, as history reminds us time and again, rarely work very well for the marginalized. This is why free speech and a free press are such needed tools in the pursuit of social justice. Not to speak up against abuses of power is to take the side of the oppressor.

While Scripture teaches us to submit to authorities, it also teaches us not to compromise on our biblical convictions when circumstances make those convictions inconvenient or even life threatening for us. How do we affirm and live by both of these seemingly incompatible teachings? Tony Campolo in his book Choose Love Not Power argues that at times, faithful followers of Christ will need to engage in "civil disobedience" when asked to go along with evil. But because we are also taught to submit to authorities, we must follow Jesus and be prepared to accept the consequences the state will impose because of it. I think he's onto something.

So, all of that to say that in my understanding, yes, it is important for the government to be able to both prevent injustice and to punish those who would do violence to the vulnerable. The example of the involvement of law enforcement officials in the case of trafficking is a poignant one, clearly supporting the positive role that the state can play in ensuring justice for the oppressed. But if the role of the government needs to be limited to keep it from interfering in the rest of civil society, an argument this study makes clearly time and again, it certainly needs to be restrained in its use of force whenever that force deviates from what is right and just.