linux-os (Dick Johnson) wrote:
On Tue, 24 Jan 2006, David Schwartz wrote:
Sometimes the restrictions are necessary. For instance,
except in very special circumstances, governments usually
take away the inherent rights to kill, etc.
I guess I can't figure out what you could possibly mean by the word "right"
such that the phrase "inherent rights to kill" is meaningful. Perhaps you
could clarify.
DS
Simple, from Government 101. Suppose you start a new country unencumbered
with rules and laws. You have "total" freedom, therefore all rights.
Because you believe that everybody is "good" (you decide what that means)
and would, therefore, never do anything "bad", you don't need any
laws.
Sooner or later somebody does something "bad" (like kills somebody).
So, you make a law against killing. As you make that first law, you
have restricted rights. That's what laws do, they restrict rights.
Say rather than restrict rights they define where your rights end and
the rights
of another person begin. Rather they "balance" rights by drawing a line
between
the rights of individuals and the rights of the state. The complex case
is something
called a "compelling interest". i.e. The government has a compelling
interest to
protect citizens from killing each other.
Unfortunately, it never stops with the "obviously necessary"
laws. Eventually, every time somebody believes he or she has been
harmed somehow, the cry goes out; "There ought to be a law....".
Some goody-twoshoes in the government makes a new law. Eventually,
there are so many laws that there is no freedom whatsoever.
There are so many laws, you need to have courts in order to perform
"balancing tests" between the rights of individuals (courts of equity)
and the rights of the governement (compelling interests vs. the rights
of Individuals)
Most laws, designed to protect, have far-reaching consequences that
actually cause more problems than they are supposed to solve. That's
the nature of Law and Government in general. That's why it's important
to control (reduce) the number of laws that exist and control the
size of government. Of course, once the government controls the schools
all is lost.
Why Dick, we have something in common -- we are both libertarians (political
party that believes less laws and governemtn control is a very good thing).
Jeff
Cheers,
Dick Johnson
Penguin : Linux version 2.6.13.4 on an i686 machine (5589.54 BogoMips).
Warning : 98.36% of all statistics are fiction.
.
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