A pet peeve of mine is the misuse of the word "right," as in, "I have a right to affordable housing," or, "I have a right to a living wage." The word is used so often by politicians, workers and whiners alike that it has almost lost all meaning. I'm not bold enough to give an actual definition of the word, but I will say that it is used far too freely, usually in the context of overblown self-entitlement.
I realize that I'm guaranteed to take a lot of criticism for this statement, but it is essentially the core of my ethics system: No one has a right to a job, or a free education, or free health-care (not even children). Everyone has a right to pursue these things. Everyone has a right not to be denied the pursuit of these things. They are not, however, inherent. They come at the cost of other people. The government takes from Person A, and gives to Person B.
In the same sense, people do not have a right to love. Few would argue that love is any less critical to overall well being than education or health-care, yet no one argues for government enforced subsidization of love, and with good reason. Subsidized love would essentially require an abstract form of rape: forcing those with many friends to give up friends to the loveless undesirables. Even with the aid of Cupid or Love Potion #9, it would be impossible to enforce without clearly breaching inherent rights of all those with the social skills necessary to find love. Services such as education and health-care can be practically redistributed among people. Just because it is practical, however, does not make it ethical. Instead of stealing our friends the government takes our money. For those of you who have a cynical view of money and therefore think my analogy is invalid, I would recommend reading this excerpt from Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. For every dollar the government takes away from an individual, they are taking away some of his/her inherent freedom. With a few exceptions (lighthouses are the only one I can come up with off of the top of my head) taxation is only excusable in the defense of citizen's true rights.
While the analogy between love and existing government programs is not perfect, I think it provides for a fresh perspective on what some taxation really is. I take my rights very seriously, and so should you.
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7 comments:
I think it's quite arrogant to completely discredit the idea of human rights without supporting or explaining your reasoning.
The idea of social justice developed out of Christian doctrine and philosophy so even retarded neo-cons generally accept human rights to some extent.
Human rights abuses predominantly occur in countries where the inherent rights to freedom are ignored. Women are denied the pursuit of education, people are imprisoned for practicing their own system of beliefs. While my definition of human rights is certainly narrower than Jimmy Carter's, a reasonable number of what you would consider human rights already fall under my definition of inherent rights.
I was careful not to define everything that falls under my definition of rights, but rather a few examples that certainly fall out of my definition.
While I don't like to define it exactly, I think that the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights is a good guide up until about Article 21. (http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html)
I think it all boils down to what you value. Being born did not grant me nor millions of poor children the right to health care. However, I place importance in those children being able to get necessary medical attention when they need it. So I would say the issue at hand isn't what is and what isnt a right, the issue for me is what do I care about. People being healthy? Yes. So let's make it happen.
Are you saying that ThaiBasil is a microcosm for the entire world?! Damn, Chaaaalie, you a badass...
Thai Basil, unfortunately is a sad representation of the conditions in which much of the world lives. There they are denied even the most basic rights, slaves to the abstraction that is "THE KITCHEN." Meesha's Gyros, on the other hand, is an outstanding example of everything a responsible government should be.
Human rights abuses occur even under governments where inherent rights to freedom are glorified and accepted.
Have you heard of Abu Ghraib? Guantanamo bay? Anyone? Anyone?
rape is hooking up with a hot chick, and not having to call her the next day ;-V
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