"Of liberty I would say that, in the whole plenitude of its extent, it is unobstructed action according to our will. But rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law,' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the right of an individual." --Thomas Jefferson to Isaac H. Tiffany, 1819.
Thomas Jefferson was right, imho. We have every right to do whatever it enters our minds to do, or at least to try. Your rights are not limited by my own; you are perfectly within your rights to trample on mine as much as you care and are able to do so. You alone are master of your own self.
Though you will have hell to pay if you wish to exercise your rights at my expense!
That is human behavior in a nutshell, as so aptly illustrated by the iterated Prisoner's Dilemna.
Note:
All avatars and any images or other media embedded in comments were hosted on the JS-Kit website and have been lost;
references to haloscan comments have been partially automatically remapped, but accuracy is not guaranteed and corrections are solicited.
If you notice any problems with this page or wish to have your home page link updated, please contact John Hardin <jhardin@impsec.org>
JS-Kit/Echo comments for article at http://smallestminority.blogspot.com/2008/07/still-more-on-what-is-right.html (3 comments)
Tentative mapping of comments to original article, corrections solicited.
Great posts on the right discussion. I've missed them before.
I always thought this explained it quite well:
"Of liberty I would say that, in the whole plenitude of its extent, it is unobstructed action according to our will. But rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law,' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the right of an individual." --Thomas Jefferson to Isaac H. Tiffany, 1819.
Thomas Jefferson was right, imho. We have every right to do whatever it enters our minds to do, or at least to try. Your rights are not limited by my own; you are perfectly within your rights to trample on mine as much as you care and are able to do so. You alone are master of your own self.
Though you will have hell to pay if you wish to exercise your rights at my expense!
That is human behavior in a nutshell, as so aptly illustrated by the iterated Prisoner's Dilemna.
Note: All avatars and any images or other media embedded in comments were hosted on the JS-Kit website and have been lost; references to haloscan comments have been partially automatically remapped, but accuracy is not guaranteed and corrections are solicited.
If you notice any problems with this page or wish to have your home page link updated, please contact John Hardin <jhardin@impsec.org>