GUI

Byron Q. Desnoyers Winmill lists-Gb8Tj4xcA4YgsBAKwltoeQ at public.gmane.org
Sat Nov 29 17:48:39 UTC 2003



On Sat, 29 Nov 2003, Keith Mastin wrote:
> Just the idea of rights is a limitation on them. We are 'given' rights so
> they can be taken away.

I will agree that rights are an artificial construct.  I do not
agree that they can be arbitrarily withdrawn.  If they could, a
judicial system would be unnecessary: the simple act of investigation
would prove guilt and the prescribed sentences would be sufficient
in all cases.  Similarly, you would not need courts to mediate
contract disputes -- because every clause would be considered
binding, even if they contradicted the law.

The rights of an individual are often circumvented for the good of
society.  For example: a person has little right to descriminate
on age, race, religion, sex, and so forth.  Similarly, some laws
have anti-circumvention clauses built into them because some people
believe that contracts can override the decree of governments.  This
is a disadvantage of the individual, because alternative power
structures can be imposed.  It is also against the interest of
governments, because it would compete with their powers.

Finally, there is (IMHO) this absurd notion that groups can have
rights.  Any substantial group would have the ability to enforce
their will upon individuals through coercion.  I would also suggest
that on group doesn't have the same rights as individuals: the
government and its agencies are bound by due process to ensure that
their actions are responsible.

Byron.
--
The Toronto Linux Users Group.      Meetings: http://tlug.ss.org
TLUG requests: Linux topics, No HTML, wrap text below 80 columns
How to UNSUBSCRIBE: http://tlug.ss.org/subscribe.shtml





More information about the Legacy mailing list