XPost: talk.politics.guns, alt.politics, talk.politics.misc   
   XPost: soc.rights.human   
   From: ¡Jones@fubar.com   
      
   On Sat, 08 Aug 2015 22:26:19 -0400, in talk.politics.guns Mr. B1ack   
    wrote:   
      
   >>>>Americans are supposed to be free.   
   >>>>   
   >>>>Freedom is Happiness!   
   >>>>   
   >>>>Everyone in the world has a natural right to freedom!   
      
   [...]   
      
   >   Hmm ... so "freedom" and "justice" and   
   >   such are "hate words" now ???   :-)   
   >   
   >   You must be a "liberal" ....   
      
   I do not know who wrote the first installment; I came into the   
   discussion somewhat late.   
      
   "Americans are supposed to be free." (?)  I suppose.  In general, all   
   people should be free to do that which it is not in an over-riding   
   social interest to prevent them from doing; many things we do every   
   day are simply none of the government's business.  I suppose I'd agree   
   with it; however, it's understated in that the people born in the US   
   and have never traveled tend to believe that this is the only free   
   country.  In reality, we'd rate about the 50th percentile in terms of   
   human rights and freedom *if* (and only if) we abolished capital   
   punishment; it's bad when Mexico lectures us about human rights!   
      
   "Freedom is Happiness!" (?)  I'm not sure what that means.   
      
   "Everyone in the world has a natural right to freedom!" (?)  Disagree.   
   Rights and freedoms are two related, however, completely different   
   ideas.  A freedom may be licensed or restricted by age or immigration   
   status; a right, on the other hand, is viewed as an intrinsic property   
   of the human being.  A freedom may be "well regulated" or qualified   
   somehow, it is possible for a freedom to be removed; a right (in   
   theory) must be absolute and indelible.  (I say: "in theory" because   
   very little holds absolutely; however, that's the ideal.)  Finally,   
   freedoms will tend to vary widely depending upon where you happen to   
   be.  The freedoms one would enjoy in an urban environment are quite   
   different from those one would expect in rural Alberta, for example.   
   A right, on the other hand, must be essentially universal in that it   
   should be recognized and interpreted the same way everyplace including   
   across political boundaries.   
      
   Jones   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)