Short-term interventions like the solar rebate and automotive industry packages are prime examples of how markets can become distorted. They also make it difficult to plan ahead, something all businesses need to do, David Styles argues.
Rule of law means action and interpretation according to principles, independently of the particular concerns of the actor or interpreter - this is in part what is behind the principle of precedent in common law, for instance. Generally, these principles are established by long and reasoned thought by reference to grander principles, and they in turn to grander still, up to the great principles of morality and just philosophy of law. These great principles, ideally, are discovered objectively at leisure and far removed from the pressing needs of individual cases, and, with that in mind, clearly what makes a given implementation of rule of law good or bad is the nature of those top-most principles.
Rule of men means action and interpretation according to the concerns solely of the actor or interpreter, in disregard for anyone else's opinion or established principles. The actor in question may well indeed have principles to guide action and be well-meaning, but they are disconnected from what was generally understood as a given law was intended to deal with. For that reason rule of men is an evil, even if the principles esposed by the men at the time would objectively be identified as good, because then nobody really knows what the law is and is thus made subject to arbitrary law. Precisely because it is rule by men and not by principles, what one actor does may well be seriously contradicted by a future actor, and who the hell can operate with any degree of long-range concern in an environment like that!?
Rule of principle by means of bad principle is superior to rule by even the most well meaning of men. People must be able to understand what the law is, for good or for ill, for them to make judgement of right and wrong and what to do about it. If the principles in question get really bad then the proper solution is NOT to espose rule by men but to overturn those damn things and establish new principles in their place. Yes, that includes by revolutionary violence if necessary - and that action and what it is intended to achieve must be objectively determined as required and itself operate by reference to principles.
Without understanding of the concept of principle the idea of rule of law will be found either meaningless or at least indistinguishable from rule by men - and THAT, not simply bad principle and not even evil machinations, is what is driving the push for ever more detailed controls over our lives. If you want to put a stop to this, then find out what principle means, what the right principles are, and abandon the ideas of expediency and pragmatism.
