Rights
posted in General |RIGHTS
Every once in a while I spot an article in which a learned author offers words of wisdom worth thinking about. James Q. Wilson is is one of those authors. The notable quote was (don't hold me to the precise words);
The rising demand that every personal preference become a constitutional right is a worrisome disease. People do have rights, and the Constitution and the First Ten Amendments spell them out. Adding new invented rights by either a ratified amendment or judicial overreaching is a mistake. ”
It seems that everyone nowadays has special rights. The obese, the handicapped (major or minor), aliens, immigrants, illegal aliens, children, unborn children, women, minorities (of all kinds of mixtures), gender deviations, political proclivities, ethnics, religion, age — and the list goes on. When a particular group starts to scream and protest, Congress, in some cases, rushes in to “protect” them by creating new “rights”. The legality of these rights does not come from a popular vote. The desires of the people are immaterial. In most cases the rights are the product of the Judicial system —- the opinion of one man (woman) — a judge. Just by the stroke of a pen, a group becomes “entitled”, and a new set of “rights” comes under the umbrella of the law —- and become almost impossible to revise or eliminate.
They say we have a Democracy, but what good is a system in which the majority opinion of citizens is neither sought nor honored? How many politicians have been ecouraging or proposing plebiscites to “put it up to the people” for a popular vote on key issues? The death penalty? Abortion? Gay marriage?
Don't hold your breath. Just suffer in silence. It's your right!!