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To: HonorsDaddy
Infringing on rights, whether legally or not is a restriction on rights. Some restrictions are moral (prohibition of child porn, perjury) and some are not (McCain/Feingold) but they are an infringment or restriction nonetheless.

This is really a simple concept that I am shocked you don't understand: Rights are not absolute. The state can legally and morally restrict your rights if they infringe on the rights of other.

Tell me, do you believe you have an absolute freedom of speech under the US Constitution?

91 posted on 09/20/2006 10:06:57 AM PDT by dpa5923 (Small minds talk about people, normal minds talk about events, great minds talk about ideas.)
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To: dpa5923

Infringing on rights, whether legally or not is a restriction on rights. Some restrictions are moral (prohibition of child porn, perjury) and some are not (McCain/Feingold) but they are an infringment or restriction nonetheless.

I agree, but one right you do not have is to infringe upon the rights of another.

This is really a simple concept that I am shocked you don't understand: Rights are not absolute. The state can legally and morally restrict your rights if they infringe on the rights of other.

That is correct - they can. Up until the point that you violate the rights of another person, your rights ARE absolute. The examples you gave (perjury and child pornography) are not an exercise of your rights, but the violation of another's rights. Hence the punishment.

Tell me, do you believe you have an absolute freedom of speech under the US Constitution?

Trick question. The literal answer is no, but not for the reason you might think. The Constitution does not grant me any rights. It recognizes my existing ones and charges government with safeguarding them.

To answer the question i think you intended to ask, yes, the Constitution DOES prohibit Congress from applying any restrictions to my speech.

In no way does this mean that I cannot face legal action for violating the rights of another person. Speech which violates another's rights may be criminally actionable

With all that being addressed, exactly how does any of this justify the search of someone merely because they have entered a building in which they are legally permitted, and in some cases, obligated to be?

92 posted on 09/20/2006 11:11:08 AM PDT by HonorsDaddy
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