I remember being on the bus on the way to work one day, not long after I'd gotten out of college, and some lady was bitching about the fact that her little Johnny Joe Bob couldn't dress up in his little Batman costume for school anymore at Halloween. She went on bitching and moaning about how America was a free country, etc., etc. and this was an infringement on her rights, by golly!
The truth is, and it's a scary thought, that we are only as "free" as our governments allow us to be. No matter what freedoms the laws may grant us, it is the governments that enforce them (or dance merry heck all over them when they so choose). We have all heard the line about "absolute power corrupting absolutely" ... and governments have not been too shy about taking advantage of a lot of nasty goings-on to get people to agree gladly to their tightening the noose on us little folks even further. How, in a supposedly free country, did eminent domain laws ever get passed? Oh yes, those are just for emergencies, and they'll never use them ... until they do. When it comes down to the bottom line, the only person who can decide what rights you do or do not have is you. And it is up to you to enforce that, because no one else (especially not a government, which is, after all, looking out for its OWN best interests!) will do it for you.
That being said, given the current absence of any kind of working moral code, I suppose we have to have laws, ... sort of, ... but laws are not nearly as effective at making everyone play nice as the practice of basic etiquette would be. There's not as much money in etiquette as there is in law, however, so I guess common courtesy will never make a come-back.
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Date: 2006-08-25 02:18 am (UTC)The truth is, and it's a scary thought, that we are only as "free" as our governments allow us to be. No matter what freedoms the laws may grant us, it is the governments that enforce them (or dance merry heck all over them when they so choose). We have all heard the line about "absolute power corrupting absolutely" ... and governments have not been too shy about taking advantage of a lot of nasty goings-on to get people to agree gladly to their tightening the noose on us little folks even further. How, in a supposedly free country, did eminent domain laws ever get passed? Oh yes, those are just for emergencies, and they'll never use them ... until they do. When it comes down to the bottom line, the only person who can decide what rights you do or do not have is you. And it is up to you to enforce that, because no one else (especially not a government, which is, after all, looking out for its OWN best interests!) will do it for you.
That being said, given the current absence of any kind of working moral code, I suppose we have to have laws, ... sort of, ... but laws are not nearly as effective at making everyone play nice as the practice of basic etiquette would be. There's not as much money in etiquette as there is in law, however, so I guess common courtesy will never make a come-back.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-25 11:24 am (UTC)