I Know My Rights
In America, Republicans have just rejected a bill to deny access to firearms for suspected terrorists. In a world where, apparently, there is so much danger of a terrorist attack that we must surrender all drinks before an eleven hour flight, just in case our clear bottle of Evian turns out to be a secret nuclear missile, it has been decided that preventing terrorists from owning guns is just a step too far. I was stopped by security the other day because I didn't have my coat and my laptop in separate trays. Thank goodness we've got our priorities straight.
The problem, of course, is the right to bear arms. I'm not against the concept of there being certain unalienable rights. The right to free speech is pretty good. The right to a free press, this seems pretty fair. It's just, I'd like to see those rights based on an open discussion between reasonable minds – and not reasonable minds from 200 years ago having just come out of a revolutionary war. Two items on the bill of rights stand out as not like the others. The first is, obviously, the right to bear arms. The other, rarely mentioned, is the “no-quartering” right, which states that Americans should never have to give food and housing to soldiers. It should be noted that a fairly common practice in America is the military discount, where members of the armed forces are given cheap food and lodging. No one is calling this out as an attack on the founding fathers. No one suggests that it would be an attack on the American way of life to give a soldier his tea. But suggest that a person suspected of wanting to kill people should be denied access to the means with which to do and, oh my friend, you are opening a can of worms.
Perhaps the Swiss have it right. Their philosophy is not that rights are things we all innately possess, but instead things we are honour bound to bestow on other people. Hence, while an American might defend their right to party until the early hours of the morning, the Swiss will worry about disturbing the neighbours, to the point that they have laws about when and on what days you may operate a washing machine.
Either way, we all have to live on this planet. It's time we got used to the fact that rights belong, not to any one of us, but to all of us. No one man's right should be greater than that of all others. No freedom greater than that which we give to others as a gift.
The problem, of course, is the right to bear arms. I'm not against the concept of there being certain unalienable rights. The right to free speech is pretty good. The right to a free press, this seems pretty fair. It's just, I'd like to see those rights based on an open discussion between reasonable minds – and not reasonable minds from 200 years ago having just come out of a revolutionary war. Two items on the bill of rights stand out as not like the others. The first is, obviously, the right to bear arms. The other, rarely mentioned, is the “no-quartering” right, which states that Americans should never have to give food and housing to soldiers. It should be noted that a fairly common practice in America is the military discount, where members of the armed forces are given cheap food and lodging. No one is calling this out as an attack on the founding fathers. No one suggests that it would be an attack on the American way of life to give a soldier his tea. But suggest that a person suspected of wanting to kill people should be denied access to the means with which to do and, oh my friend, you are opening a can of worms.
Perhaps the Swiss have it right. Their philosophy is not that rights are things we all innately possess, but instead things we are honour bound to bestow on other people. Hence, while an American might defend their right to party until the early hours of the morning, the Swiss will worry about disturbing the neighbours, to the point that they have laws about when and on what days you may operate a washing machine.
Either way, we all have to live on this planet. It's time we got used to the fact that rights belong, not to any one of us, but to all of us. No one man's right should be greater than that of all others. No freedom greater than that which we give to others as a gift.
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