Justice.

I have recently been discussing and reading my favorite philosopher Epicurus. I have based a good portion of my personal philosophy on his work. The philosophy of Epicurus is what today would be described as a libertarian atheist. Particularly his view of justice which is that justice is a compact to not harm or be harmed. That is it, no metaphysical or transcendental nonsense tacked on, just a simple contractual agreement from which all laws should draw their authority. If something causes no harm then the law has no business with it, if something causes harm then justice has been violated and must be restored. To Epicurus the purpose of justice was the same as the purpose of everything else, to facilitate security and happiness. Happiness and freedom from pain were the natural goods of Epicurean philosophy, everything else is a means to those ends.

I would say our government and system of law is far removed from this idea of justice. The law does not serve the interests of security and happiness, it is more often than not the thing that restricts those goods. The government of the united states is used in the service of ideology and it's own power. The largest crimes in our country are not those that cause harm, but those that violate arbitrary government regulations. The buying and selling of certain goods and services notably sex and drugs but including everything that is not properly stamped and regulated by some office or official. It is contraband that drives our law enforcement not individual harm. The government spends billions preventing people from buying a joint or a blow job or even unpastuerized milk, but they claim they lack the manpower to investigate rapes and burglaries. Laws are passed to regulate drinking and smoking and sex, there are entire departments devoted to these things yet we still have unsafe streets, rapes, murders, and robberies. Perhaps even if the government will not accept limitations on what it is allowed to regulate at least they will accept some priorities. Before investigating drug sales or organic milk producers they first have to secure us from murder and robbery. When the citizenry is reasonably secure from actual harm then they can go about enforcing their arbitrary nonsense.