The Real Hawkeye
member
I made it a point to put several very pointed questions to you in the other thread, and you responded in the negative when asked, for example, if the Jews of the Holocaust had a right to life. Your reason for saying no, as I recall, was that the German Government did not recognize that as their right. Case closed.No, TRH. Neither RealGun nor I claimed that government was the source of rights. You have a unique knack for misunderstanding or misrepresenting.
As I stated previously, you are using the word "right" here to refer to a government granted privilege. Governments cannot grant rights.Both RealGun and I argued that social convention and social practices were the source of the kind of rights we'v been discussing -- as I stated in the paragraph to which you responded, above.
Rights, of the Constitutional nature, which are powers that can be enforced if ignored, are social conventions -- supported by social contract.
See above.Government can (but need not) be the source of those protected rights and their enforcement, but small groups of people, without forming governments, can recognize, protect, and enforce rights, too.
See above.As we both know, that doesn't mean that government WILL enforce them -- as 100+ years of slavery in the US showed.
As I said earlier, you continue to confuse the NATURAL RIGHTS of political philosphy, with the statutory/government-based rights of the U.S. Constitution.
I explained this relationship in the previous post. No need to restate it here.Further, a discussion about the SOURCE of rights is not a discussion of the FORM of government -- that seems to be another source of confusion for you, as well.
Indeed, you necessarily have the same rights wherever you go in the world.You can arguably have the same rights in a constituitonal monarchy as you have in a constitutional republic.
Although it is true that "rights and forms of government are independent issues" (although this is an interesting new admission for you), the issue of the origin, i.e., the source of, rights and the topic of government are in fact very much interrelated, as demonstrated in my previous post.You could have them, with enlightened leadership, in any form of government. Unlikely, but possible. Rights and forms of government are independent issues.
P.S. I felt it necessary to respond in this thread to your characteristic mischaracterizations of my positions, but I suggest that, rather than hijack this thread (which is about a new topic), you resurrect the old thread which concerned the topic you seem intent on discussing here.
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