204. Order Through Agreement

We need rules for there to be order. Without rules, people could do whatever they want, and they might do things that would harm us or compromise our ability to live happily. When we have rules that everyone knows and follows, the actions of others become predictable, and this helps ensure our security and safety.

When we encounter disorder, we believe it should be resolved by creating a new rule. Once the new rule is formulated and proclaimed, we expect order to be restored. But creating a rule does nothing by itself. We also need some means of enforcing the rule.

Most of the rules we follow are enforced by ourselves and the people around us. Often we do not even recognize these as rules, they are simply what we know we should do. By holding people to account, we remind others to follow the rules. If someone fails to respect the rules, we might apply a punishment as an incentive for them to follow the rules in the future.

But adding a new rule is not straightforward. It requires others to agree with us that the new rule should be enforced. If such an agreement has not been reached, then the rule will be powerless and it might as well not exist.

This is true even when the rule is imposed by an outside authority. Imposed rules are often supported by institutional enforcement in the form of policing and a system of justice. But even these rules might not be followed when agreement is lacking. If there is no agreement supporting a rule it can be met with disregard, scorn, or even hatred.

The source of the power of rules is not found in the strength of their authority but in the strength of the agreements that underlie them. And we know this, because rules produced from the bottom up, like social norms, are often far more powerful and pervasive than rules imposed from the top down.

Order is not established through institutions and systems that impose control through force, but through agreements between ordinary people on what they must each do to create an environment conducive to their own success and happiness.