When traveling, I’ve noticed that some states frequently use the term “the law” while others use the term “our law”.
The philosophical divide between “the law” and “our law” usually comes down to whether you see rules as external commands or internal commitments.
1. “The Law” (Positivism & Universalism)
This term views the legal system as an objective, external entity.
Source of Authority: It is “out there”—a set of rules handed down by a sovereign or a legislature.
The Mindset: It treats the law as a tool or a barrier. It is something you must follow because it is the rule, regardless of whether you personally agree with it or feel it belongs to you.
The Vibe: Technical and detached. It emphasizes the letter of the law and its power to regulate behavior from the outside in.
2. “Our Law” (Social Contract & Originalism)
This term views the legal system as a collective possession or an extension of the people’s will.
Source of Authority: It comes from “us.” This is the philosophy of the Social Contract—we agreed to these rules to live together, so they belong to our community.
The Mindset: It frames the law as a shared inheritance. When a judge says “our law,” they aren’t just citing a rulebook; they are referencing a living tradition and a specific identity.
The Vibe: Moral and participatory. It emphasizes the spirit of the law and the idea that the community has a duty to uphold it because it is part of their social fabric.
The Philosophical “Conflict”
In modern legal debates (like those in the U.S. Supreme Court), using “Our Law” is often a signal for Originalism. It’s the idea that the law isn’t just whatever the current government says it is (“The Law”), but rather a specific, fixed set of principles that “We the People” established and have lived under for centuries.
The hurdles that stop families from installing home energy upgrades are firmly within the control of state governments, writes Permit Power founder Nick Josefowitz.
I concede maybe that’s a good thing, in he sense that too many people back in the day had burn barrels, tossed all their burnable trash in it, lit it with a match and walked away, allowing plastics and other chemicals in their trash to smolder away for half the day ruining many a nice country night for people who lived downwind.
There’s a reason why they call the smoke from smoldering burn barrels hillbilly incense, as you drive those back roads in Pennsylvania with those windows rolled down – or a million other back roads in Red States. It can be kind of nasty – as they say burning toxic trash is a national past time out in the country. Probably is, people like fire and not hauling all their burnable garbage to the transfer station and spending a bunch of money to get rid of it. It’s fun to watch things burn.
I always told myself for years when I moved back to the country, built my off-grid homestead I’d move to a free state where there wasn’t all those restrictions on open burning. But alas it seems like I’m settling in New York State with my good paying professional career. I’ll have land where I can have campfires and bonfires, and I’m thinking about becoming a volunteer firefighter.
The truth is I don’t want to burn toxic waste. I want to burn things that I can use the ash on my garden and to enhance my land and restore soil fertility. It’s not like I generate that much trash, especially now that I’m into healthy eating. A lot more of my trash now is compost, it belongs in a compost pile with manure, leaves and waste paper. I also am more concerned about fire risk, soon to be the owner of a homestead that I designed, built and put much of my hard earned money into. I don’t want my neighbors smoldering trash fire to become my wildfire.
It’s not to say I won’t burn things or have lots of fires. But it won’t be in a burning barrel or involve burning excessive amounts of toxic plastics, especially things like PVC lead coated wire or ABS plastics used in electronics and structural plastics. Somethings, unfortunately if you can’t reuse them are best for the landfill. And a lot of things don’t burn well at any rate, despite us rednecks of the world trying to burn everything we can.
I do think I’ll save most paper and cardboard to burn, along with film plastics, wrappers and feed bags. They’re excellent starters for campfires and bonfires and if you’re regularly having fires your unlikely to accumulate much. Burn it hot with minimal smell or smoke. Sit back and enjoy a cold beer while enjoying the fire. I figure if I’m building on raw land, going to have a lot of brush and leftover wood scrap to burn, providing many a nice summer night out in the country. Plus some junk mail is good for starting woodstove fires.
A combination of composting, eating healthy, producing my own food, burning non-toxic trash and compressing recyclables such a hard plastics and cans for taking to the transfer station, my hope is to get it down to the point where I can visit the transfer station maybe twice a year – to participate in urban recycling, get rid of broken appliances that can’t be repaired and other toxic trash. I don’t plan to produce a lot of trash nor do I plan to burn much – just papers and wrappers for starting fires.
