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Politics : DON'T START THE WAR -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: James Calladine who wrote (20429)	3/13/2003 6:26:29 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 25898

There is NO SUCH THING. "legitimacy" is in the MIND of the beholder. Bingo!!.. What Zonder has been claiming to be "legitimacy" is a term that is dictated by Natural Law.. IOW, if I'm the biggest, baddest SOB in a particular country and I can suppress all viable opposition, then my government is "legitimate".. It's inherently a legitimacy through subjugation, with no internal moral legitimacy or accountability to those subjugated by it. There are NO "inalienable" rights of man recognized by such a government.. Rights are not intrinsic to the existence of the governed, but bestowed upon them as the ruler sees fit. Oppose that government and those rights are withdrawn. Two different courts can (and do) view the same set of laws differently. Certainly, in this case, a court which draws its authority FROM THE PEOPLE and where the innocent are presumed as such until proven otherwise, rather than a Kangaroo Court where the innocent are assumed to be guilty until proven innocent. Those who authorize a government through elections, and those elected representatives who draft the laws for the judicial branch to enforce, are entitled to protection under such laws. Those who are not entitled to such protections (such as Al-Qaida prisoners in Gitmo) are left at the mercy of the government which decides what rights they will bestow upon them, and which they will deny them. What we have seen for the past 200+ years is a clash of political ideas which has shaped the world we live in ever since. The founding of the US established the concept of inalienable rights which didn't even exist in Roman or Greek times. Heck, even the UN Charter acknowleges the concept of inalienable rights of man(though not explicitly stated as such). From the preamble of the UN charter: WE THE PEOPLES OF THE UNITED NATIONS DETERMINED to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom, Words.. only empty words that are no longer followed by the UN (at least with regard to Iraq). A body which can't even even see it's duty to enforce its own BINDING resolutions.. Hawk