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To: freeeee
You can give your own rights away. Other's rights are not yours to give.

If only that were true. But it isn't. Others are free to give our rights away, if they have sufficient numbers and go through the process. Sometimes this works out well, such as when by amendment the right of Americans to own human slaves was taken away. Other times it doesn't work out so well. But our system is not built on the principle of unanimous consent. If a majority of Americans want to ban cigarettes, for example, they can do it. You know it's true.

38 posted on 09/24/2002 12:35:52 PM PDT by Huck
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To: Huck
If a majority of Americans want to ban cigarettes, for example, they can do it. You know it's true.

Sure they can. But that's democracy, not liberty. The two aren't the same.

Democracy is only legitimate when used in pursuit of liberty. It is not an end in itself. When it becomes so, and it has, we are in a condition other than freedom: The Tyranny of the Majority.

39 posted on 09/24/2002 12:57:06 PM PDT by freeeee
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