Nicky Cheese

Anticipating another wave of FDR’s “Second Bill of Rights” come January, Paul Moreno has an exceptional (and timely) post on the difference between negative rights and positive rights entitlements.

Dumbed-down version here:

The right to work, for example, is fundamentally different from the right (entitlement) to a job; the right to marry does not entitle me to a spouse; the right to free speech does not entitle me to an audience.

Whole thing here, which I really, really recommend, especially for those of you who want to get the historical basis and, moreover, hear a contemporary defense (via Cass Sunstein… blech).

H/T: Hit & Run

One Response so far | Have Your Say!

1. 

   Givemeliberty
   December 18th, 2008 at 6:50 am #

   The problem in comparing rubbish such as this, like the UN Charter on Human Rights, is that you’re making the wrong comparison. The proper yardstick is the Communist Manifesto. Calling something “rights” in this case is just another example of stealing terminology from the other side, like socialists calling themselves “liberals”. Milton Friedman was a liberal.