Snickers: A Basic Human Right

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Tue, 29 Sep 2009 10:51:23 GMT  <== Politics ==> 

Larken Rose explains the difference between a negative right, like the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and a positive right, like health care.

Sorry for stating the bleeding obvious, but you can't violate someone's "rights" unless you DO something to them. If you torture them, rob them, assault them, or murder them, you may very well be violating their "rights." In other words, a "right" is a purely NEGATIVE concept: something that should NOT be forcibly interfered with by anyone else. "Rights" aren't a bunch of goodies that someone has to provide for you; they're the things that no one should STOP you from doing yourself.

Larken also introduces his wife's blog: Tessa Talk. Tessa has a good abortion essay up, and she takes the idea of health care as a right to its logical, and obviously absurd, conclusion.

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