Every limitation is a limitation nonetheless. Our country was founded on a principle that every person is entitled to COMPLETE freedom, so long as they don't interfere with others. Funny how each elected official has to swear to uphold the constitution when they are constantly violating our right to "liberty to the fullest extent".
If this country was populated by a handful of people who rarely came in contact with other, perhaps your 'complete freedom' might work for a while.
Originally Posted by Fantasea
I believe that every right has a corresponding responsibility. I believe that the advocating and agitating for more and more rights, privileges, and entitlements, without corresponding responsibilities, is the root cause of most of the problems we struggle to solve.
That is so true! And when we give the government the right to control our daily lives, they consistently claim "sovereign immunity" to allow themselves to function without regard towards responsibility.
This is not the fault of government, per se. It a result of the cowardice of politicians who cannot stand up to the socialist-liberal element that coined the phrase, 'political correctness' and screams discrimination and suppression of freedom whenever an attempt is made to rein in irresponsible behavior.
They quote many, however they never use the most famous quote of one of their darlings, JFK. You may recall the words from his inaugural speech, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." By today's standards, those words are totally politically incorrect, aren't they?
In a free market society, people must take responsibility for their actions because they have consequences.
There are two broad clases of people. Those who are responsible; those who are irresponsible. The reason that laws exist is to attempt to control irresponsible behavior.
Businesses that don't offer affordable prices and new innovations crumble.
Businesses come and go. The consumer determines which ones will stay.
However, things are different when the government controls an area of our lives. Because they force us to pay our taxdollars towards it and they have no competition from other businesses, government can do as bad a job as it wants and we are unable to prevent that.
Every two years, voters elect a brand new slate of representatives. If they don't like the job their representative is doing, they can replace him. If they send him back, it must be because they like the job he is doing. The same for the senate, except only one third of them come up for reelection every two years.
It's essentially why communism fails.
Communism can be enforced only at the end of a gun barrel. The reason it fails is because humans are intelligent and resist being herded like cattle.
'To each according to his need and from each according to his ability' ensures that everybody needs everything and nobody will do anything.
When you have no competition, there's no reason to waste valuable time and energy to do your best or become more efficient.
You are describing business and commerce under communism.
Every right does come with responsibility, and I only ask for 3: life, liberty, and property. With these come responsibility not to infringe on another person's or group's same rights. If I do, however, it is the job of the judiciary system to make me compensate for my wrongdoing.
You are describing life in these United States.
When the founders set down the rules of our 'club', they were to protect our rights and prevent ourselves from government control. They understood that government is a power to be held down. In the words of our own first President, "Government is not reason; it is not eloquence. It is force. And force like fire is a dangerous servant and a fearful master." -George Washington
I would like to see less government. However, the constant effort by the socialist-lib-dems to create a duplicate of the European cradle to grave social/welfare system resulted in governmental growth during the forty years following the enactment of the Johnson Admnistration's 'Great Society' entitlement programs, most of which cost many times their cost projections and never lived up to their press releases.
Unfortunately, letting the air out of the bloated balloon is a slow process.
