Amazing Book.  I am so glad that I read this book. 

The first sentence of the book: “Life is difficult.”   Well, that gets my attention right away since there are so many great things about life and so many difficult things.  Still on the first page:  “Life is a series of problems.  Do you want to moan about them or solve them? Do you want to teach your children to solve them?” 

Since my answer to both questions is to solve them, I continued reading the book.  If I were to quickly recap this book, I would say the book is about learning to love yourself through self-discovery and developing discipline (wanting to grow). 
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At the back of my book, I listed out nine books that support the ideas in this book.  I enjoy finding interdisciplinary bridges to the books I am reading.
 

As I was reading from Hume's Essays Moral, Political, Literary, I ran across this opening sentence in Essay XII Of Civil Liberty:  "Those who employ their pens on political subjects, free from party-rage, and party-prejudices, cultivate a science, which, of all others, contributes most to public utility, and even to the private satisfaction of those who addict themselves to the study of it." 

Something for me to ponder.  In Politics, Aristotle claimed that political science was the highest science.
Hume’s Essay VIII of Parties in General states that “faction subvert the government, render laws impotent, and beget the fiercest animosities among men of the same nation, who ought to give mutual assistance and protection to each other”.

How is it that we can cultivate the science of government without being drawn into the factions?  How are we divided so quickly into different groups?

Hume points out that we can divide into groups based on our interests, our beliefs and our affections.  Affections, that is an interesting word.  I understand how we “naturally [wish] that right may take place, according to [our] own notions of it.”

According to the 1828 Webster’s Dictionary Online, Affections is defined as passion, a mend of mind, desire, along with several others. 

I think that Hume might be saying that we have attachments based on the groups we belong to.  That registers with me, I know that during election times candidates work to let us know what groups support them, hoping that we will vote based on our loyalty to different organizations. 

As I have been pondering these ideas, I see how easy it is for us to be pulled away from the goal and purposes of government toward the emotion of politics. 

John Adams said, “Government is instituted for the common good, protection, safety, prosperity and happiness of people…” (The Report of a Constitution or Form of Government for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 28-31 October 1779).  I believe that.  The more challenging part is to define those words into actionable principles that can be agreed upon.  Because this is so challenging we divide into different groups based on what we believe those words to mean and how to apply those words.     
 
As I got older, I realized how little I understood the science of government.  In school I was taught some basic ideas of how our government ran but there is so much more that I didn’t understand or was not taught.  Some of the ideas I was not taught were:

1. Why do we form government. 
2. What is the purpose of government.
3. How do we know what good government is or is not.
4. How do we find the principles of government.
5. How do we decide if a proposal is based on the principles of good governance.

I have tried to correct this lack of knowledge over the years.  I have read different books and listened to different people and yet even with this find that I have so much still to learn about government.  There are several things that I have learned over the years that have influenced my thinking.  A couple of these are:

1. Government starts in the home.  The family is the foundation of government.
2. A good foundation is critical.
3. Government should be founded on the principles of Natural law.

 
As I have been trying to apply these ideas I have paid a bit more attention to issues in the community.  Why?  Because I have learned it is my responsibility to learn for myself if ideas are true or false.  I can’t depend on what others tell me is the right way to think.  That is hard to do.  There are so many voices.  How do I wade through all of the ideas, and voices?  I want to decide based on my beliefs and principles and be “free from party-rage and party-prejudice”.    I want to be on the side that “contributes most to public utility” or to do the things that bring us together towards a better environment for everyone.  Yet what is that path?  Where do I find it?  That brings me back to natural law and what natural law is.  As I have studied what some of the great thinkers* said about natural law I have concluded that there are two basic ideas in the world.  1. Those that believe in natural law, and 2. Those that do not believe in natural law.  These divisions can’t be unified, for they see the world so differently that they can’t agree.   I have chosen to believe in natural law. 

Using the help of many ideas I am defining natural law as a system of justice common to all people at all times which is recognized through correct reasoning that is tied to obedience to God. 

I believe that there is a right and wrong way to behave and that my job is to determine the right and align myself with it, regardless of my own beliefs.  In other words, I could want to live differently than natural law lays out but if I want to live a principled life, I must align myself with the laws that are set out otherwise I suffer the consequences of breaking those laws.  I struggle with this every day.  I would rather enjoy my sweets and goodies instead of healthy and good for me food.  I would really love to eat whatever I wanted when I wanted but the principes of health tell me that there are consequences and that I need to align myself with those principles if I want to find happiness.  The same applies to every area of life to include government.  There are principles that must be discovered through correct reasoning that are based on Natural Law. 

Luckily for me I live in a time of abundance.  Abundance of energy and knowledge.  I have access to the great minds of many people who have been studying these ideas and trying to share them+ out.  Learning about government principles takes time and energy.  Taking the time to read through people’s ideas and dissecting them down to the principles is work. I turn to my core book to verify the ideas and in order to help me focus on what is truly important.  This allows me to spend less time involved in factions based on interests, beliefs, and affections and more time on what is best for everyone in society.   

I love the words, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness (The Declaration of Independence). 

These words changed my life.  I was luckily exposed to these words in school.  They have sunk deep into my heart and have returned to me again and again.  The US Government set up a system founded on the idea that all men were equal before God and the law.  Our job as citizens is to help promote and follow that idea.  We of course have faults; we see them every day and through all of history.  We also see the progress we have made by trying to follow these ideas. 

I would like to leave a better place for my children.  That requires me to make some changes in my life.  The more I can align myself with true principles, the happier I will be. I chose to spend my free moments† trying to understand natural law and the principles that flow from them so that I can understand better and pass that better understanding on.  To continue the progress that great men and women have tried to make.

What a wonderful time we live in that we have so much abundance.  We have time when most people except a very few have had to do more than any other generation.  We have abundant energy.  We are so blessed.  Now with our time, how will we use it?  Will we use it in ways that will make the world a better place?  Will we work to discover the correct principles around us so that we can see better?  Or will be caught up in cunning craftiness of men who try to deceive us (see Ephesians 4: 14)?  Will we be caught in the factions that surround and divide us?  
 
 


*Cicero, William Blackstone, Thomas Ried, Lysander Spooner, CS Lewis, Mortimer Adler, and Audrey Rindlisbacher

+see Thomas Jefferson Education, Blackbelt in Freedom and Depth
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†I could fill Volumes with Descriptions of Temples and Palaces, Paintings, Sculptures, Tapestry, Porcelaine, &c. &c. &c.—if I could have time. But I could not do this without neglecting my duty.—The Science of Government it is my Duty to study, more than all other Sciences: the Art of Legislation and Administration and Negotiation, ought to take Place, indeed to exclude in a manner all other Arts.—I must study Politicks and War that my sons may have liberty to study Mathematicks and Philosophy. My sons ought to study Mathematicks and Philosophy, Geography, natural History, Naval Architecture, navigation, Commerce and Agriculture, in order to give their Children a right to study Painting, Poetry, Musick, Architecture, Statuary, Tapestry and Porcelaine.  (John Adams to Abigail Adams, 12 May 1780, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/04-03-02-0258

I knew that this story is one of those stories that does not have a happy ending.  However, it is an important book to read and think about what the author is asking you to consider.   Reading this in Feb 2026 is even more poignant because I can see again lynch mobs in parts of our society.   Of course, they don’t call themselves lynch mob.  They call themselves protesters.  But they have decided they don’t like something so are out vandalizing, harming others, chasing people, yelling, screaming, fighting, and many other things in the name of justice.  They have decided to take the law into their own hands.

In this story, a man is said to be killed and cattle were stolen.  The cattle had been disappearing before, and the cow hands and ranchers were upset about it. But when a friend is killed, action needs to be taken.  Or so the characters in this book thought.  They gathered a group to go hunting for the rustlers of cattle and a murderer of a hired hand.  They did not want to wait or include the sheriff and the judge.  Justice was needed!

         “We shall observe order and true justice, Judge”, he told him.   
          Tetley looked at him.  “In time,” he said.
          “Mapes,” he said, turning to Butch.
          “Yes, sir?”
          “You said Risley had made you deputy?”
          “Yes, sir,” said Butch.
          “Then suppose you deputize the rest of us.”
        “It’s not legal,” [Judge] Tyler told him.  He appeared infuriated by Tetley’s smiling, elusive talk.  “No deputy has the right to deputize.”
          “It’ll do for me, Butch; go head and pray,” Smith yelled.
         Butch looked at Tetley. Tetley didn’t say anything or even nod.  He just smiled, that thin little smile that barely moved the corners of his mouth.
          “How about it, boys?” Butch asked us.
          “Mapes,” Tyler bellowed at him, “It’s ineffective.  Your violating the law yourself, in such an act.”
       Men called out to Mapes: “Go ahead, Butch”; “I guess it will take as well with you as any, Butch”; “fire away, sheriff.”
         “Raise your right hands,”….(p. 93)

This group of men were determined to catch the rustlers and murderer regardless of the situation.  They were not going to wait for the sheriff or a new day or better weather.  Off they went with their determination to lynch, not catch the guilty parties.  Several men had encouraged them to follow the law, but emotions were high and they felt that their way was the right way.   I knew before I got to page 100 that things are not going to turn out well or the right way.  Sure enough, they find 3 men that they believe are guilty.  There is not enough evidence to clear them, but they think there is enough evidence to hang them, so they do.  It was pointed out to them before they hung the men that it would be really easy to verify these men’s story if they just waited until morning and checked out their story.  But these men came for a lynching and were not interested in anything else.  Several of the men in the party were convinced that hanging was deserved.  Shortly after they find out that they hung the wrong men.  

The opening chapters of the book talk about justice and what justice means. There are many pages of trying to reason with the mob.  But the men are never fully convinced that they need to slow down and do things the right way.

One answers that justices is…”seein’ that everybody gets what’s comin’ to him…” (p. 46)
And
“True law, the code of justice, the essence of our sensations of right and wrong, is the conscience of society.  It has taken thousands of years to develop, and it is the greatest, the most distinguishing quality when has evolved with mankind.” (p. 49)

Another feels that they have seen enough injustice in the land by men that they need to make sure justice is served this time.

Why did these men not want to wait for a trial?  “Law, as the books have it, is slow and full of holes.” (p 156) They decided that they would not get justice the way they wanted it so lynched the men. 

Shortly after they found they had accused and hung the wrong men one of the character’s says:
                “My God,” Gil said, “I knew it didn’t feel right.  I knew we should wait.” (p. 189)

What is the author asking me and you to do with this story?

Does he want us to understand that in the heat of emotion people in a crowd will act in ways they would not if they were alone?  Does he want to show us that it is hard to stand up against others because we fear what they will say about us or treat us?  Does he ask us to consider what we would do if we were one of the men called to join the mob? 

Is the author trying to warn us that when we see an injustice we should not let our emotions rule over our decisions?  That our first reaction might not be the best reaction?  

“We desire justice, and justice has never been obtained in haste and strong feeling” (p.33)
Is that true? 

What happens if the law decides differently than what we want it to decide? 
In this case there was no murder and the cows they recovered were not stolen but bought.   The men in this mob left and acted without collecting all the information that they needed to have to make the decision to hang rustlers.  Now they each have to either find someone to blame or live with guilt that they didn’t deliver justice that day but injustice.  These men decided that they would not get justice from the society and laws that were established.  Yet how did they do? 

​Reflecting back on my own life, I can see where I have made decisions in the heat of the moment, some of them were wrong.  Some of them needed to be done but with a different approach.  Overall, taking the time to sit back, collect more information, and wrestle with the ideas would have been a better choice.