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To: pgyanke
In case you're wondering, I call them childish because they are questions that have been answered and reanswered throughout history going back to the earliest philosophers.

No, you're calling them childish because you don't have the answers.

I'm not going to do them justice in a post, just encourage you to do some research if you are truly interested and not just out for mindless debate.

I encourage you to do research. My questions were rhetorical; I've done the research, I have my answers. It is fairly clear that you do not, and you are now replying in this manner because you do not wish to question your beliefs.

As for the above issue you raised, rights are God-given and endowed in us, His creation. Any society that respects that fact, respects the rights of its citizens. Any society that rejects that fact (and instead assumes rights come from government or some other man-made institution) rejects the natural rights of man and I would say that those men have given away their rights.

Ah, circular logic. Any society that respects rights, has rights. Any society that doesn't respect rights, doesn't have them. Wow, how self-evident.

184 posted on 05/09/2007 11:57:04 AM PDT by psychoknk
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To: psychoknk
Wow, how self-evident.

Our Founding Fathers thought so too.

... No, you're calling them childish because you don't have the answers.

That's quite the assumption. No, what I don't have is time. Suffice it to say that fundamental freedom is freedom of conscience. It is the freedom to live unmolested--self-determination. Where your exertion of your own freedom molests others, you must be limited. All men have the same rights as endowed by our Creator and stated in our Declaration of Independence. Unfortunately, there are few countries that allow these rights to be universally exercisable. Those who wield power, tend to control their fellow citizens.

So how do we get into the business of also regulating that which is "victimless" such as drugs and sex? Because of the society that these create when unfettered by civil codes. Drugs, legalized or not, tend to disorient society, reduce its productivity and create havoc through crime or negligence. Reducing availability reduces the incidence. The sex trade (whether prostitution or pornography) tends to do the same. It devalues humanity and creates conflict through marital dissolution, child-endangerment, disease and many of the same problems you get with drugs and other addictive behaviors.

Where we would have an ordered society, there have to be agreed upon rules of society. These are then codified into statute to promote the general welfare. As our country was originally envisioned, citizens were then free to choose what society they would create within their own localities and states... and the states were very diverse. Local and state politics were the reflection of the citizen-contract to abide by the societal mores. Those unwilling to abide were free to change localities or argue their point to referendum. Unfortunately, we have become so homogenized in this country, we have forgotten this founding compact.

187 posted on 05/09/2007 12:17:51 PM PDT by pgyanke (RUDY GIULIANI 2008 - BECAUSE IF YOU'RE GOING TO COMPROMISE YOUR PRINCIPLES ANYWAY... WHY WAIT?)
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