What Happened to Our “Government of Laws, Not of Men”?

Arguably the gravest threat to freedom is a government granted the power to shape society via arbitrary, consciously-designed rules. A free society demands a government restrained by those long-run customs and norms of conduct that evolved over generations outside of a central design by freely-acting individuals.

A government of arbitrary legislation maintains itself by granting privileges and favors to particular groups. Purpose-free laws of just conduct that emerged spontaneously over time have been replaced by purposeful legislation designed by individual men with the aim of obtaining specific results for specific groups.