Mr Lock,

You have framed these questions in a way that invites young libertarians to declare their assumptions openly. I have discussed the question with Bryan, and each has shared his answers with the other. But I come at them from a different foundation than many in the movement. My family background is Chinese. My faith is Catholic. Both traditions teach that moral order precedes individual choice and that liberty rests on a structure older and deeper than personal preference. You may disagree with some of my conclusions, but I hope the answers demonstrate coherence, not conformity.

Q1. How should you judge what actions are right and what actions are wrong?

Answer: According to an established religious or moral code.

Human conscience is real, but not infallible. Culture shifts too quickly to supply lasting standards. Government produces regulations, not morality. A stable code must come from something above individual impulse and beyond political fashion. For me, that is the natural law as articulated in the Catholic tradition.

This does not mean that every action must be evaluated through casuistry. It does mean that right and wrong are not created by desire or by public opinion. They exist because human beings are not self-invented creatures. We have a nature, and morality flows from the flourishing of that nature.

Q2. What is the status of human rights?

Answer: They are innate to anyone who is born of human stock.

The concept of innate dignity is essential. Without it, the only barrier against tyranny is custom, which collapses easily. A right is not simply a social convention. It arises from the nature of the person, who is made in the image of God and therefore possesses a worth that no State or majority may annul.

This does not deny the need for institutions to recognise rights. But recognition is not creation. Rights exist because the human person exists. Their source is metaphysical, not contractual.

Q3. What are the important human rights and freedoms?

Answer: All of the above.

Life, liberty, property, and personal security are foundational. Dignity is also foundational, because a human being is more than an animal with a legal perimeter. Bills of rights codify certain protections that history has shown to be necessary. Each category captures an aspect of human flourishing.

Rights are not unlimited. They must be oriented toward the good. But denying any of these categories leaves the person vulnerable.

Q4. What is your nation?

Answer: Britain.

I was born here and formed by British institutions and culture. My family history ties me to China, but national identity is shaped by the community that raises you. Britain is not simply a political map. It is a civilisation with its own memory, virtues, and failures. I belong to it, even while honouring the heritage from which my family came.

Q5. What is the binding force which holds a nation together?

Answer: Shared culture.

A nation is not blood alone, nor mere geography. It is held together by the shared moral and historical assumptions that make mutual trust possible. Without these, society fragments into competing groups that cannot interpret each other’s behaviour.

Culture shapes our understanding of duty, responsibility, and the limits of personal autonomy. A nation survives only when these underlying moral expectations remain strong.

Q6. What is politics?

Answer: A system that brings power to those that consider themselves the best.

Politics is, at its surface, the management of public affairs. In practice, it becomes the arena in which elites claim the authority to guide everyone else, often sincerely believing they possess superior insight. Sometimes they do. Often they do not.

Politics is unavoidable in a fallen world. It becomes tolerable only when those who hold power understand it as stewardship rather than entitlement. When this humility disappears, politics degenerates into domination.

Q7. Who has a right to tell you how you should behave?

Answer: Your own conscience as a human being.

But conscience must be properly formed. A malformed conscience is indistinguishable from self-will. Moral education—through family, faith, and tradition—teaches the conscience to align with the good rather than with convenience.

Government may restrain harmful actions. Religious authority may advise and admonish. But the final decision lies within the individual conscience, which remains answerable to God.

Q8. Where does the authority of a political government come from?

Answer: From the voluntary consent of everyone among the governed.

Authority is legitimate only when those under it freely accept its jurisdiction. Consent need not be expressed in a literal contract. It may be tacit, arising from participation in a political community. But consent must be real. A government that rules through fear alone possesses force, not authority.

Catholic thought speaks of subsidiarity and the common good. Both require consent. A government that violates human dignity forfeits its claim to obedience.

Q9. In what sense are we all equal?

Answer: We are all ethically equal, so each of us should obey the same moral rules.

Equality does not mean sameness. We differ in talents, resources, and circumstances. Equality does not require the State to erase these differences. It requires that all persons stand equal before moral law and possess equal dignity in their human nature.

This equality is the ground of universal moral responsibility. It does not erase hierarchy, which can be legitimate, but it limits hierarchy by insisting that all authority is accountable.

Q10. What is justice?

Answer: The condition in which each individual is treated, as far as practicable, as he or she treats others.

Justice is reciprocal, but also universal. It demands fairness, but it also demands the recognition of objective right. Justice is not whatever the powerful desire. It is the alignment of social order with moral truth. This includes proportionate punishment for wrongdoing, protection of the innocent, and respect for the dignity of every person.

Perfect justice is impossible in a fallen world. The task of politics is to approximate it without imagining that the approximation can become perfection.