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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated
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To: Dayuhan who wrote (28153)2/6/2004 2:44:50 AM
From: D. Long  Read Replies (2) of 793843
 
There is a right to pursue happiness, if you beleve in the Declaration of Independence. The State's right to interfere in agreements between individuals is limited. If the contract in question does not infringe on anyone's rights, the government has no business interfering.

There is a right to pursue happiness stated in the Declaration, which is not a blank check on hedonism. It is the declaration that every person is entitled to decide what is in their own best interest. It is not the declaration that every man is entitled to do as he pleases. I consider myself a libertarian, and even I wouldn't venture to seriously say "If the contract in question does not infringe on anyone's rights, the government has no business interfering." There are so many instances of law that you would cry about that it isn't really worth going into. Of course the State has an obligation to regulate contracts beyond mere consent.

The government exists to protect the rights of its citizens, not to enforce social convention or impose your particular concept of duty.

Implicit in the concept of rights, and civil society, is the concept of duties. Believing that society is all about preserving your rights, without concomitant duties is simplistic. Divorcing the State from the individuals that comprise it, and its citizens, and the social conventions shared by those individuals, is more than simplistic. The State is not some abstraction seperate from us.

Derek
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