One of the most fundamental aspects of our legal system is the doctrine of “innocent until proven guilty.” Rather than brazenly accuse people of crimes, legal authorities must offer up convincing evidence to a jury in order to eliminate any “reasonable doubt” that a person is innocent. This humane system assists with a smooth operation of the laws and protects the rights of the defendant.
However, in addition to being an important legal doctrine, “innocent until proven guilty” must also be seen as a way of life. By assuming the best of others, until proven otherwise, we are able to flourish as a cooperative and healthy society. Instead of being suspicious and resentful of one another, “innocent until proven guilty”y provides the necessary framework by which we can come together and form communities with one another.
Social critic Os Guiness has written about this phenomenon in his book The Magna Carta of Humanity. The central idea of the book is that the wisdom for our free society comes from the revolution that freed the Israelites from bondage.
Out of this momentous event emerged a nation that was based upon a covenant rather than a hierarchy. By incurring mutual religious obligations to one another, loyalty, patriotism, and charity were created, which allowed the state to flourish.
Guinness recounts how the Jewish scholar Daniel J. Elazar has created a new framework for viewing governments through the lens of community relations. The three types that he examined were organic, hierarchical, and covenantal. Organic societies consisted of African tribes or Scottish clansmen while hierarchical societies consisted of authoritarians.
By contrast, covental societies are unique because they have been founded on an agreement between people to found a republic or commonwealth. This idea is what birthed the Constitution of the American Republic and the Declaration of Independence. Each set limits on the authority of the powerful and laid out the rights of the people.
This form of government has always required a significant amount of trust. In order to grant your fellow citizens liberty one must trust that the freedom of individuals is better than the authority of a supreme magistrate.
This was certainly a great leap for many people. In his famous Meditations, the Emperor Marcus Aurelius wrote that he wished to have a republic of free men. This seems contradictory, given that he was an emperor. However, he believed that men could only be free through moral submission. In his mind a politically free society was too utopian. An untrustworthy and unstable goal. After all, he was surrounded by savage barbarians and a population that generally didn’t subscribe to his moral code
Today we are seeing the resurgence of distrust with claims such as “all white people are racist,” “believe all women,” or “all cops are bad.” If our fellow citizens are so evil as to merit universal condemnation, then how will we remain free together?
The answer is that we will not. Instead, we will become suspicious, resentful, and angry. Demagogues will be able to capitalize on this anger and usurp the authority to “make things right.” Only through trust can we build a free society together.
