InsaneJournal

Current mood:	angry
Current music:	Stevie Wonder - A Time to Love

*sighs*
I hate to quote Arnold here, but dear administration bigwigs, FUCK YOU. [Further obscenities removed]. You're splitting hairs and BSing outrageously to justify a law that violates the full faith clause of the constitution and the spirit of the idea of states' rights, not to mention the right to equal protection under the law. It's disgusting.

And now, a few key points about rights and freedoms:

1) Rights and freedoms are not granted. They belong to you whether or not society and the government recognize them. They cannot be taken away from you. To attempt to deny you the exercise of them is morally wrong.

2) Rights and freedoms are not earned. They belong to everyone, regardless of that person's level of morality, criminal status, or any other factor. Nobody is so low that they do not have rights.

3) Rights and freedoms have no meaning if they cannot practically be exercised. If a resource -- education, clean water, shelter, transportation, electricity, gainful employment, medical care, what-have-you -- that is vital to life, decent quality of life, or opportunity is prohibitively difficult to get, that is a violation of the basic rights of the people affected. This includes things being too expensive, not disabled-accessible, remotely located, etc.

4) No right or freedom extends to violating other people's rights or freedoms. Your right to free expression doesn't mean you can assault people, your right to your beliefs doesn't mean you can have people imprisoned for disagreeing with you, your right to use the public roadway doesn't mean you're allowed to mow people down, etc. This is the only restriction on rights and freedoms that is unquestionable, and that's why people can be imprisoned and otherwise penalized for robbery and assault and other crimes that directly violate the rights of others. Where crimes that don't do that fit in is a stickier question.

5) Rights and freedoms are not limited commodities, which must be denied to some because there aren't enough to go around.

6) Being of higher status than other people is not a right. Rights belong to everyone, remember?