Awful truth #13: The only rights you’re entitled to are those you allow others to have as well, and this especially includes people you despise.
Make a list of the rights you want for yourself and your family. Free speech. Due process. Privacy. No self-incrimination. Fair elections. The reach of your government clearly specified and limited…
Once your list is complete, now comes the hard part: Consider a person you despise, and then go through this list crossing out the rights you wish to deny him. The remaining rights are the only ones you deserve for yourself.
We are much more Libertarian in regard to ourselves than we are toward our fellows. The temptation is to deny rights to those we don’t like—and we always claim this makes the world a better place. I understand the temptation. I feel its pull myself. This is particularly strong around the issue of free speech. We foolishly believe if we silence our foes, we’ve achieved victory. We haven’t. Any more than the winner of a nuclear war has somehow won. When you silence someone else, you have no right to free speech yourself—and you’ll eventually lose it and all your other rights, deservedly so.
Another example is when we grumble about the due process given society’s most vile criminals—and in some cases it can be argued we give them undue due process. It’s important to remember that the murderer on death row given due process ensures it for ourselves. To deny him due process risks eventually denying it for you and everyone else.
Human rights are our most precious possessions. That we afford them to those we despise is what ultimately proves this.
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