Monday, September 1, 2014

You Have No Rights at All

When I was about 21 an unattractive, overweight woman said to a friend and me, "I have the right..." (We were in college and she was a busybody sticking her nose into what was none of her business.)

I said to her, "You have no rights."

And she didn't.

It was John Locke who came up with the concept of our having the "natural rights" to "life, liberty and property." It made it into the Declaration of Independence as "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

Now those ideas are what works best for everyone, for society, for the purpose of government. Unfortunately, those "rights" are just ideas in our heads we impose on reality.

That's why that woman had no rights. If I had beaten her or killed her, she could not have stopped me.

"Rights" are ultimately based on violence or the threat of violence. Nothing else.

Fortunately most people are good-natured enough to subscribe to "live and let live." Most. Some don't, and those we define as criminals. They steal, they mug they murder, they rape.

If someone wanted to, they could kill a lot of people before they're stopped - by violence. Think Ted Bundy, and how long it took to catch him.

That is incredibly scary, if you think about it.

There is a hierarchy of ideas, from the bad ones to the good ones. The good ones lead to the greatest eudamonia for people - those old qualities of the Good, the True, the Beautiful. The bad one lead us straight to hell on earth.

The bad ones, when implemented in society, cause all sorts of mayhem - chaos. When government subscribes to those ideas (which is often called "the Political Means") we get the worst catastrophes that exist.

The good ones lead to peace and prosperity (I've heard those called "the Economic Means").

In other words, bad government is the worst thing ever. And it always get out of control. Think Ted Bundy multiplied by millions of times.

Ultimately, then, everything is defined by ideas.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

look at bobs site he is just a taxie driver bullshitter......every one boycott bob...he talks shite....tryin to make traffic....ignore this man he just copys andpastes stuff...this man dont no apussy from a cat

Unknown said...

Come on, you can do better than that!

Anonymous said...

Anonymous Anonymous at 6:35 PM

A product of what passes as an education system.

Quartermain said...

OT:

An article of possible interest:

http://henrydampier.wordpress.com/2014/04/18/egalitarianism-destroys-labor-markets/#comments

Unknown said...

Dang, that's a good article and I'm to reblog it here with some comments. Thanks!

little dynamo said...

As soon as men were convinced that their 'rights' came from the Government, they were doomed, and it was only a matter of time before full tyranny was/is implemented.

Cuz rights that can be arbitrarily given, can be arbitrarily taken. And now that Government is essentially the Will of Woman, and the 'Law' is whatever comes out of any female's mouth at any moment, just how secure are those State-awarded 'rights'? They are worth nothing.

The only authentic rights human beings ever had, and ever will have, come from the Creator of human beings (and of concepts like rights) and that'd be God. Not government. Not the coercive power of collectivized Woman, acting in ideopolitical unison, backed by paid men in uniforms.

Our 'strong' righty types cling to the government-rights/Constitution scam, not bc they really believe in all that nonsense, but bc most of them have lived safe and comfy lives, and want that nice bubble to continue. At Some Other Guy's expense, whose 'rights' have been mocked and trampled for half-a-century and running.

Eventually the Government gets around to Mr. Secure Righty too, and then he can't understand why there's nobody around to defend him against the abuse that others have been suffering all along.

Cheers.

Anonymous said...

Women were given the "right" to vote about 100 years ago. One of the first things they did was swing the next presidential election to Woodrow Wilson, who plunged the US into WW1.

Now get this tidbit. Women's suffrage (that's voting, for Anon. 6:35 PM) was put in by constitutional amendment, and Tennessee was the deciding state. The vote in that state was so close it came down to one man. He was a recently elected wimp from Niota, Tennessee (blink today and you'll run this burg's one stoplight). Wondering how he should decide, this grown man wrote home to his mom, asking her what to do. What did this flower of old-fashioned rural motherhood, this humble lady born in the real America of the 19th century, this pious, godly, churchgoing woman, advise her son to do? VOTE FOR WOMEN'S RIGHTS, she ordered. When asked later why he had obeyed her on this, the wimp replied (completely sincerely): "A good boy always does what his mother says."

Beside the road in that town there is a historical marker about all this. It stands above the town's cemetery, where there are probably graves of WW1 vets and widows.

deti said...

Now this article, I agree with.

Rights mean nothing unless they have a concomitant remedy for their deprivation. The only way to secure the remedy is through the justice system which provides for concomitant deprivation and restitution (fines, money damages, or imprisonment) or force (violence, armed action, military force).

A right is nothing unless that right can be enforced.

Unknown said...

Women also voted Hitler and Obama into office. They should not be allowed to vote.

Robert What? said...

Many others have cited that old (Greek? Italian?) adage that "a fish rots from the head". It is painfully clear that the lawlessness of the Obama administration is filtering down into everyday life. Even into law enforcement. The average person has to be thinking "The President doesn't respect or obey the law, why should I be the only sucker that does. I'll just focus on not getting caught."

The Anti-Gnostic said...

As you know, I've decided "rule of law" just means "where the nice people live." And have the guns.