Muddled Thinking On Sodomy Laws |
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| Media Link - Washington Times | ||||
| Friday, 18 December 1992 00:00 | ||||
Your lead editorial on Dec. 5, 1992, which supports the District's sodomy law, demonstrates precisely what is wrong with modern American conservatism. Most conservatives advocate capitalism, at least in theory. (I know of no conservatives who advocate genuine laissez-faire capitalism, but that is not my point here.) Yet why do conservatives favor capitalism? Usually there is no answer, other than "it works better." Rarely, if ever, does a conservative offer a principled defense of capitalism because he probably does not know of one. Yet there is a philosophical basis for capitalism, even though conservatives never mention it: individual rights. Individual rights refer to the principle that no government has the right to initiate physical force against any of its citizens, unless an individual initiates (or threatens) physical force on his own. This means private ownership of the means of production (capitalism). This also means no laws that prohibit sexual behavior among consenting adults, since no force is involved. Your editorial implies that there is a "public morality" that overrides individual rights. If you are right, then liberal Democrats who promote the welfare state must also be correct. After all, they too make the claim that the "public good" (elimination of all unequal conditions) overrides the rights of individuals (to their own lives and property). The problem is, neither liberals nor conservatives may have their individual rights and eat them too. One need not endorse -- nor even like -- a behavior in order to insist on its legal protection. At the same time, those of us who enjoy liberty desperately need the principle of individual rights if we are to remain free. I am disappointed to find that The Washington Times engages in the same evasion and hypocrisy that characterize the rest of the modern media.
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