Re: DOES THE 9th AMENDMENT PROTECT RESPONSIBLE REC DRUG USE?

On Fri, 28 Nov 2003 19:53:04 GMT, Manny Davis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:

>George Leroy Tyrebiter Jr. <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: 
>
>>The problem with natural rights is that we all have different views of
>> what should be on the list. Do you agree that we all have a natural
>> right to medical care, whether we can afford it or not?
>> 
>> Some make that argument. Does the Ninth Amendment require
>> government-assured universal medical insurance?
>> 
>> How do we decide which rights are in the list and which are not?
>
>Well, one thing we know is that for some action to be a right, it must 
>apply to everyone equally. Another thing we know is that your rights 
>cannot obligate someone else to do something for you. 

Well, that's a good answer - it helps distinguish rights from
nonrights.

But we don't know that actually, even though it is an answer.. "We"
know that govt must pay for medical care for the poor. Or at least
some among us think that medical care is a right.

Why must we believe your view of a "natural" right rather than someone
else's view of a natural right?


Thus you have the 
>right to speak your mind because it doesn't obligate anyone else, and we 
>can apply it to everyone equally without ridiculous consequences. You 
>have the right to defend yourself, because that right doesn't obligate 
>anyone else, and everyone can exercise the right and all is well. 

You are describing what YOU think should distinguish rights from
nonrights.

Who says your taxonomy is the correct one, rather than Larry Tribe's
list of rights?

>
>But me claiming a "right" to healthcare obligates other people to provide 
>healthcare for me, hence it makes other people slaves of mine. A right 
>obviously cannot allow me to enslave people or allow me to become 
>enslaved. Therefore there can be no right to healthcare, education, etc. 

Who says a right can not allow you to enslave others? I am sure many
societies have had rights to own slaves. So who says the Ninth
Amendment excludes slave ownership? Weren't slaves owned when the
Ninth Amendment was passed?

>
>It's not perfect, but it does coincide fairly close with my beliefs of 
>what right and wrong are.
>

It's a good answer. For what rights SHOULD be. But we have a different
problem - what rights ARE in the ninth amendment - not what rights
SHOULD be in the Ninth.



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