As far as Constitutional rights, I can’t think of any that would not accrue to practitioners of same sex sodomy - they have the right to free speech, association, religious expression, owning fire arms, the right to a jury trial, not have soldiers quartered in their homes, the protection from unlawful search and seizure, and so on.
That bears repeating.
The rights guaranteed us in the Constitution do not equate to giving people the *right* to do whatever they fancy regardless of he consequences or impact on society.
The right to *life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness* is not license to hold the rest of society hostage to whatever behavior one person happens to feel like engaging in at the moment without regard to it's impact on others around him.
There is an obligation for anyone who wants to be part of society to be willing to work with others to make that society safe and productive and free. And, strange as it may sound, that includes sometimes restricting what one wants to do for the benefit of others. Libertarians are typically blind to this aspect of it. Or unwilling to acknowledge it.
The problem comes in when people refuse to voluntarily restrict their behavior out of courtesy for others. The others generally don't like being held hostage to the demands of one aberrant individual, and so the government ends up stepping in to impose external controls on that person's behavior.
Ironic as it ends up being, those who hold the libertarian position of unbridled license for all to do whatever they please without restriction or fear of consequences, are the very ones the most responsible for the INCREASE in government interference in people's personal lives, as the government is called on by the general populace to protect them from those who will not cooperate with others in society.
Exactly. Libertarianism, if put into practice, would quickly lead to anarchy and chaos, which would soon usher in jackbooted tyranny.
“The problem comes in when people refuse to voluntarily restrict their behavior out of courtesy for others.”
Bingo, we have a winner. When an alcoholic goes home beats his wife, goes to jail, then to count and pleads “society made me do it therefore the government must make amends”, I draw the line. Or gets fired for being drunk on the job and the nanny state says I have to hire him back put through treatment even though my insurance rates will go up, I draw the line.
That is a great post. Very insightful.
Well! Who knew Sunday nights at FR could be so volatile?
Thanks for the pings you guys. I’ve spent a few moments browsing this thread and the vanity Jim Rob posted.
And I’ll spend even more time later looking at the posts where liberals have been zotted.
This is very encouraging. It looks like the moral and socially conservative side of Free Republic has made significant progress.
I, for one, will bookmark Jim’s words here and happily cut/paste for the benefit of liberal FReepers attempting to espouse their gay tolerant messages.