Monday, December 08, 2008

Rights, not liberties

I note that the 'civil liberties' lobby are often associated with the furtherance of 'rights'. But there are others, almost all social conservatives, who are actually opposed to clear legal rights and prefer the nothingness of what they refer to as 'traditional British liberties'. This assumes that our common-law system works well (it doesn't), that religionists, for example, should have the 'liberty' to discriminate against others outside the private sphere (they shouldn't), and that majoritarian views are always correct (they aren't)

English common law is a failure: it cannot cope with the contemporary society we live in, and it is no surprise that it is people who generally hate that contemporary society and long to bring back past values who equally fetishise the idea of 'English liberty'.

'Liberty' to discriminate and enforce majoritarian prejudice - no thanks

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

:blush:

I confess I am one of them...

But my definition of Germanic "common law" dates back to the Saxons...

OK yes I am an uber-geek. I confess.