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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhy don't Republicans understand that the Common Good always trumps Individual Rights
The current crop of Republicans, a radical, rabidly conservative group, take as their jumping off point a very unnuanced view of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. To them, rights, if not specifically qualified in those documents, are absolute. So whether its the right to liberty and the pursuit of happiness in the Declaration, or whether its the right of free speech or the right to bear arms in the Constitution, no limitation on those rights is warranted (unless of course it limits the rights of opponents and so suits their purposes.)
And one must say, the words certainly sound absolute. But let us consider their context. First, the Declaration of Independence - the mother, if you will, of all our founding documents. What does the Declaration say about rights?
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
The context of this recitation of rights is that all men are created equal and that all have the unalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Now, unless you believe that the Founding Fathers meant to set up a state of anarchy
with everyone exercising their liberty, doing whatever they wanted, without restraint
one cant believe that they meant that no bounds could be placed on the exercise of these rights.
Why? Because when you have a community of people it is inevitable that at some point the free exercise of one persons liberty and pursuit of happiness bumps up against anothers
either harming another or impinging that persons exercise of his liberty. Since the Declaration states that all men are created equal and all have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, the system can only work if one says that each person has this liberty so long as it does not harm others or impinge on the rights of others.
This last proposition is in fact the basis for all government laws and regulation of any type. Whether its criminal laws, traffic laws. zoning ordinances, building codes, the Clean Air Act, banking regulations, etc.
all of these derive their legal basis from the basic proposition that neither an individual nor a corporation can act as it will, if such action harms another or the public welfare.
Then there are the sacrosanct rights enumerated in the first 10 amendments to the Constitution, the Bill of Rights. But even the most jealously protected right of them all
the right of free speech
is not absolute. Not only can one not yell fire in a crowded theater, but the laws of libel and slander prohibit both written and spoken words that are defamatory, malicious, and false. There are false advertising laws, which prevent corporations from misleading the public. The list goes on and on.
As for the right to bear arms, even assuming for the moment that the Constitution indeed grants that right to an individual (until recently the courts had not so held), it would be ludicrous to argue that the government can place no limitations on a right which has not just the potential, but as we see almost daily causes others grievous injury and death. Yet to the NRA and its supporters, and the majority in Congress which is either beholden to the NRA or scared of its power, virtually any regulation whatsoever, no matter how reasonable and called for, is anathema.
As recently as a generation ago, conservative Republicans understood that while they had their ideologically preferred way of addressing issues, they shared common ground for the most part with Democrats in understanding what the great public issues were. They understood that we lived in a country where citizens had both rights and responsibilities. Where we all played our part, each according to his abilities, in supporting the government in its role of securing the rights of all to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
As it says again in the Declaration of Independence:
That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed . . .
That is the purpose of government. The mantra started by Ronald Reagan and taken up by the Tea Party Republicans that, government is not the solution; government is the problem, is at odds with not just our founding documents but our history.
Indeed, it is at odds with the history of the Republican Party. It was often Republicans that pushed for government action. Whether it was the Republican President Lincoln pushing to end slavery or the Republican President Theodore Roosevelt breaking up the huge trusts of the day, such as Standard Oil, Republicans have a long and proud history of arguing for government action to protect those less powerful., to insure that all have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
When it comes to the rights we have, no one should shrink from vigorously protecting his or her own rights. However, everyone must understand that with the exercise of rights comes a responsibility not to harm others or impinge on the exercise of their rights. When it does so, then the common good demands that such exercise of an individual right be regulated so as not to harm others. The common good always trumps the exercise of an individual right.
For more on this and other issues, see my blog: http://PreservingAmericanValues.blogspot.com
Response to natrlron (Original post)
Dems to Win This message was self-deleted by its author.
natrlron
(177 posts)I was not saying that in practice common good trumps individual rights. You are quite right that in our culture it does not. What I was saying was that if you look at the Declaration and the Constitution, it is clear that the rights were not meant to be absolute. That if you exercise your right and it harms someone else or the common good, then that exercise can and should be regulated. And that is the basis for all government regulation, etc.
Response to natrlron (Reply #3)
Dems to Win This message was self-deleted by its author.
AZ Progressive
(3,411 posts)No, common good has to be balanced with individual rights.
SickOfTheOnePct
(7,290 posts)There has to be a balance between individual rights and the common good. I think your entire premise is out of whack.
mythology
(9,527 posts)How many people could be saved if we took a healthy person and forced them to give up bone marrow or say a kidney to because others need them?
We hold that policies like stop and frisk are illegal and racist because they violate an individual's privacy even though if there were cops on every street corner or performing invasive searches everywhere, crime would certainly be lower, which benefits society as a whole.
NutmegYankee
(16,199 posts)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shouting_fire_in_a_crowded_theater
You can pretty much determine that the writer has no clue what they are writing about if they reference that.
Oh and BTW - Liberals also hold those rights sacrosanct. I'm a proud ACLU card carrying member myself.
GGJohn
(9,951 posts)Individual rights should always come first, but there also has to be an accommodation for the common good.
BTW, you can yell fire in a theater if there's evidence of a fire.
And pimping your blog? If not a TOS violation, it's kinda unethical.
TM99
(8,352 posts)It is not an either/or proposition. The whole of western philosophy and political thought is on the resolution and integration of the 'one' and the 'many'.
The common good without individual rights is no more laudable than individual rights without the common good.
The powers that be enjoy seeing the GOP cheer for the individual rights while the Democrats cheer for the common good. But the sad reality is that decade now after decade we, the people, are losing both. Wars for oil are not the common good. Invasions of privacy by the NSA are not supportive of individual rights.
The ACA is one stellar example of the loss of both. It is mandated health insurance that forces an individual to pay for it or pay a penalty. But it is not health care for the common good of all as it is not even a first step towards universal health care.
When either one trumps the other or both in balance are ignored you end up with the worst types of governance with history replete with examples.
NutmegYankee
(16,199 posts)The very purpose of a Bill of Rights was to withdraw certain subjects from the vicissitudes of political controversy, to place them beyond the reach of majorities and officials and to establish them as legal principles to be applied by the courts. One's right to life, liberty, and property, to free speech, a free press, freedom of worship and assembly, and other fundamental rights may not be submitted to vote; they depend on the outcome of no elections. - Justice Robert Jackson
SickOfTheOnePct
(7,290 posts)It's great - thanks for sharing it.
lumberjack_jeff
(33,224 posts)Or in fact, the one from everyone else.