If we want public policy to reflect the qualities we hope to pass on to our kids and grandkids, peace and love are at the top of my list. I discussed love previously, and now I tackle peace.
Peace is the absence of war and the careful deliberation of when one does need to go to war, as will occur from time to time. But I view the definition more expansively, because there’s a war on human potential that is very much underway in statehouses, courthouses and city halls across the country.
Peace is a firm commitment never to use the law to elevate or diminish any person, group, class, sex, race, or so on. It is easy enough to wage a silent war on people simply by weaponizing the law: tax advantages for some and not others, restrictions on who may earn a living, rules that make owning property more expensive or impossible. It would be scandalous to pass a law that outright kills off everyone with red hair. But you could pass a law making it impossible for redheads to hold the jobs that fe…
