Re: Clipper Death Threat

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"LYLE, DAVID R." <uunet!pentagon-emh9.army.mil!lyled> writes:

> Good question... what exactly is a "right"?  To me, a right is something 
> that cannot be removed from any citizen.

Then there are no rights. Can you name any "right" that has not been
taken from some citizen, sometime, under some circumstances? The state
can and will do with us, our bodies, and our minds, as it pleases. Not
because it has permission, or because it's morally justified, but
because it is willing to use force. Citizens who are unable to match
the state with equal or greater force do not lose their claim to rights
which have been ignored or trampled.

I prefer to think of rights as "something that must not be removed from
any citizen"; but even with that definition, we should be careful. Do
we want to extend it to convicted criminals during the term of their
punishments? What about to persons accused of (but not convicted of)
crimes?

> I would like to see privacy as a right.

I would, as well. I think it's important to assert that it *is* a right;
perhaps not as well-defined in the Constitution as I'd like. The
government may choose to pretend we do not have a right to privacy, but
that doesn't change the fact that we have one.


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--
Greg Broiles               ".. has bizarre Cyberanarchist theories relating
greg@goldenbear.com         to human punishment." -- L. Detweiler

Something which comes up frequently on this list, and in other forums, is
the term "the government."

At which point does "the government" cease to be a collection of
individuals, and become the faceless entity we call _the government_.  Are
the individuals in the government simply operating on the same utiltarian,
anarchists maxims that are preached time and time again: if I don't get X
out of transaction Y, then I won't do it?  Would a Cyperpunk, operating
on the extreme individualism proclaimed on this discussion list do any
different than a tyrant?

(I protect myself and my position, at the expense of others or not.)

-john.