Why Condemn Vigilantes?
In the Old World, a top-down ruler managed community. Laws, courts and punishment were the sole province of the ruler. The ruler decided what was right or wrong, depending on the circumstance and who the presumed offender was. The ruler, not the people of the community itself, dominated the police, magistrates and the jails. The ruler’s primary purpose was to maintain order in the community and preserve his or her own position and safety. No other consideration topped those needs, lest someone topple and replace the ruler. The ruler ruled! In the New World, however, no ruler was the law. Instead, the law was the ruler and police, magistrates and community leaders were required to live within the bounds set by law. Each citizen was equal under the law, and if caught violating a law, is tried in a court with a jury of his peers before a magistrate, always innocent until proven by a prosecutor and judged guilty only beyond all doubt, and punished in relation to the crime. At the foundatio
