Dangerous rights.

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Tuesday July 16, 2013 · 1:26 PM PDT

2013/07/16 · 13:26

I don't post a diary often. There's a reason for that, and it relates directly with the rancor that boils over on certain issues. I'm sure that will be true of this diary, too, and I'll end up regretting it; but after seething for three days over the Zimmerman verdict, I can't ignore the compulsion to say something about guns that is ignored by both sides of the political argument:

Every right carries with it a responsibility.

Every right, no matter how fundamental or elementally human, must be fully and naturally counter-balanced by a responsibility of equal weight.

The right to free speech isn't unfettered. I cannot yell, "Fire!" in a crowded theatre - in other words, I can't create a danger to another person's well-being with my words. Neither can you. Likewise, my right to freely practice a religion doesn't allow me to throw virgins into a volcano.

A "right," separated from responsibility, transforms into a privilege. Once we begin to conflate privilege with rights, we are surely lost. So it is with guns.

HuskerBlue

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Wednesday August 03, 2011 · 11:57 AM PDT

2011/08/03 · 11:57

One of the things I appreciate about this site is the insistence on intellectual honesty among diarists. Rather than being a collection of "me too" opinions, most diaries here make valid attempts to back assertions with facts, to base opinions on, and to draw conclusions that are in concert with substantive, tangible reality.

Those who don't are quickly dismissed for engaging in meta diaries. Since an intellectual giant I'm not, I presume this will become one of the disdained "metas" we all love to hate. So, I'll apologize to the tiny handful of people who will read it, in advance.

So much for meeting the standards I admire.

HuskerBlue

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Monday October 12, 2009 · 3:24 AM PDT

2009/10/12 · 03:24

Dear Senator Nelson,
There's an old saying I first heard come out of my dad's mouth when I was in grade school: "If you're digging yourself into a hole, the first thing you need to do is stop digging."

Senator Nelson, you've dug so hard the shovel is almost glowing red hot at this point. All this triangulating you are doing over the Public Option is not serving the state, it's not serving your constituents and it's not serving you personally.

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Dangerous rights.

Mo Had It Right

An Open Letter to Senator Ben Nelson