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Thursday, February 23. 2012

Ben Shapiro via Tatler:

“In the view of the Left, the state is everything. Why? Because in the progressive belief system, only the state guarantees rights. All of our freedoms and liberties spring from the state. All moral and philosophical and scientific authority is vested in the state. Only the state can enforce the progressive ideology. And so the state must survive and it must grow. The bigger the state, the bigger the rights. Want a right to healthcare? You need an enormous state. Want a right to taxpayer-funded contraceptives? You need a huge state… Our founders agreed, they saw the constitution as a charter of negative liberties — it protects people’s natural rights against the government… The Constitution only gives the state the power to protect rights.”

What he said.

Posted by The Barrister at 13:40 | Comments (12) | Trackbacks (0)

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The state must continue to expand its welfare benefits programs in order to meet the expanding needs of the state's welfare recipients.

#1 Hrothgar on 2012-02-23 14:36 (Reply)

Socialism is theft. Eventually the state runs out of other people's money, like Greek government did.

#2 Ray on 2012-02-23 15:09 (Reply)

Thomas Jefferson and our other fore-fathers were all very wise. They knew that our inalienable rights are bestowed upon us by God.

Beware of rights given by any government... the government can, and will, take away any rights that they may bestow.

#3 PeterGunn on 2012-02-23 20:12 (Reply)

Benjamin Shapiro was born in 1984. He entered UCLA at the age of 16 and graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in June 2004 with a BA in Political Science. He graduated Harvard Law School cum laude in June 2007.

Wow.

#4 BrianInWisconsin on 2012-02-23 22:49 (Reply)

It is a state sponsored religion or officially sanctioned metaphysical belief system. The official religion and state church supported by the coercive power and in plain violation of the first amendment to the constitution.

#5 Tom C on 2012-02-24 10:03 (Reply)

Ben Shapiro: In the view of the Left, the state is everything.

Strawman. While it is reasonable to equate much of the Left with Progressivism, a political ideology advocating or favoring social, political, and economic reform or changes through the state, it is not correct to equate that the "state is everything".

Ben Shapiro: Why? Because in the progressive belief system, only the state guarantees rights.

Hmm. While the state is not the only guarantor of rights, these people certainly thought it was one of the functions of government.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed"
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration.html

#6 Zachriel on 2012-02-24 12:16 (Reply)

The state becomes the source of rights in the progressive world view. The purpose of government is to protect the life, liberty and property of it's citizens. Those (natural law) rights do not proceed from the state, they pre-exist any state. The living constitution and positive law crowd have turned this concept on it's head. Is the state the guarantor or the SOURCE of the rights of the citizen? The Declaration reads: "...Endowed by their Creator..". Clearly, government is not God.

#7 Tom C on 2012-02-24 12:47 (Reply)

Tom C: The state becomes the source of rights in the progressive world view.

The belief that government has a role in eliminating inequality, such as the Civil Rights Movement or ending child labor, doesn't mean the state is the source of rights. Rather, the general Progressive view is that people have natural rights that are being coopted by powerful interests, and that people petitioning government act as a counterweight to those elite interests.

#7.1 Zachriel on 2012-02-24 13:20 (Reply)

Who assigned that role to the state? What do you mean by inequality? The tax treatment of "income"? The differences between men and women? Sexual tendencies? Physical, intellectual capabilities? Hair color?

The progressive belief that the political class has the power to right the wrongs of "inequality" other than unequal treatment before the law is just that: a belief, a matter of faith. I believe that you are mistaken in your beliefs but I would never utilize force to get you to convert to my way of thinking. I trust you would treat me similarly. The central government was never delegated any such authority and they would be unable to do much about it (other than before the law) if it were.

Is the state the source of the rights of life, liberty and property or do those rights pre-exist the state as spelled out in the organic law of the United States of America?

#8 Tom C on 2012-02-24 16:15 (Reply)

Sorry for the delay.

Tom C: Who assigned that role to the state?

The right to petition the government is in the U.S. Constitution. Free speech and the right to associate are considered inherent rights.

Tom C: What do you mean by inequality?

In the case of the Civil Rights Movement, it was ending "separate but equal". In terms of child labor, it means giving all children a chance for an education.

Tom C: The progressive belief that the political class has the power to right the wrongs of "inequality" other than unequal treatment before the law is just that: a belief, a matter of faith.

Well, the government was quite effective at addressing the problems of child labor, for instance. Do you think the government should allow children to be left to the devices of the free market?

Tom C: Is the state the source of the rights of life, liberty and property or do those rights pre-exist the state as spelled out in the organic law of the United States of America?

We answered this: The general Progressive view is that people have natural rights that are being coopted by powerful interests, and that people petitioning government act as a counterweight to those elite interests. Such as children being working in factories, or people working in unnecessarily dangerous workplaces.

#8.1 Zachriel on 2012-02-27 11:14 (Reply)

The "separate but equal" doctrine, like Dred Scott, were promulgated by (drum roll).......The Federal Government! You give the central government too much credit. Their function has become finding solutions to problems they've created! ( I worked as a child and enjoyed it very much/.)The states can handle the job. If you want proof look no further than the Dept of Education, The Great Socoiety, AMTRAK...I could go on but it's not worth it. You have your faith and I have mine. The only difference between 'faiths' is that mine does not require you to pay for it.

#9 Tom C on 2012-02-27 12:43 (Reply)

Tom C: The "separate but equal" doctrine, like Dred Scott, were promulgated by (drum roll).......The Federal Government!

Plessy upheld state laws regarding segregation; an attempt to circumvent the 14th Amendment, another one of those progressive pieces of legislation.

Tom C: Their function has become finding solutions to problems they've created!

Government didn't create the situation where children worked in factories and as miners. It was the result of the unrestricted economics.

Tom C: The states can handle the job.

The argument you raised above applies equally to state governments. Who assigned the role to the states?

Just so we are clear, you are against laws limiting child labor? That children can be forced by circumstance to work fourteen hour days, six days a week, with no education?

#9.1 Zachriel on 2012-02-27 13:31 (Reply)

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Thursday, February 23. 2012

Government worship