law, went further in transfemng authority to the state, but theynnever repudiated the right of each man to repel force with force.nThe Germanic conquerors of Europe brought with themnmore personal and familial legal notions that would not havenseemed entirely strange to Romans of the early Republic.nAnglo-Saxon law was slow to abandon the idea that the mainnobject of criminal justice was the placation of the victim. Ournancestors were for the most part rough men who were all toonwilling to exact bloody revenge from those who had offendednthem, and the Franks, Lombards, and Northmen of the continent,nas well as the Anglo-Saxons, Picts, and Scots of Britain,nwere happy to kill their enemy or wipe out his family, if theirnclaims were not satisfied. In more traditional parts of the UnitednStates (the West and the South) dueling did not fall entirelynout of fashion until near the end of the last century, and committeesnof vigilance have been keeping the peace since beforenthe Revolution.nLaw and order are usually better than order without law, butnwhat are we to do when we have law without order? Obediencenis a great political virtue, and I have more than once describednthe more aggravated forms of civil disobedience as tantamountnto treason. However, the duty of self-defense—andnrevenge—precedes the state, and if we have delegated thisnresponsibility, we have not abrogated it. As John C. Calhounnobserved of states’ rights, “to delegate is not to part with or tonFor the Creator of Bringing Up Fathernby John Nixon, Jr.nRemembering one Pop U. LaritynAnd other regulars at Dinty Moore’s,nWhere Jiggs went often to avoid the boresnAt Maggie’s soirees, I again tee-hee,nMcManus. Have we lost the recipenFor good corned-beef-and-cabbage and the scoresnFrom which sopranos sang till they were hoarsenAnd Jiggs departed, most ungallantly,nFor Dinty’s place? I’d say, McManus, thounShouldst be cartooning now—when Jiggs’s palsn(No one would raise an eyebrow at this latenDate) could include hot hookers who would wownMales of all ages. The Availabelles.nTheir madam? You’ve got it. N. Delia Kate.nimpair power.nThe classic text on Christian obedience in Romans chaptern13 says:nLet every soul be subject unto the higher powers. Fornthere is no power but of God. … Whosoever thereforenresisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance ofnGod: and they that resist shall receive to themselvesndamnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works,nbut to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of thenpower? Do that which is good, and thou shalt havenpraise of the same. For he is the minister of God tonthee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, benafraid; for he beareth not the sword.in vain.nBut what if the state does hold the sword in vain? What if governmentnwields the sword only to protect physicians whongrow rich by killing unborn babies, pornographers who prostitutenchildren, and the army of vandals that is now waging anreign of terror in American cities. Ordinary Americans are beginningnto understand that if they want to protect their homes ornkeep their neighborhoods safe, the police cannot help them,nand the law won’t. And if, after all the precautions in the world,none of the savages should break in and—God forbid—murderna man’s wife and children, he may have to pick up, for antime, the sword the state has cast aside. ^>nnnMAY 1992/13n