Date: Wed, 14 Apr 1999 20:53:58 -0500 (EST)
From: danceswithcarp <dcombs-AT-bloomington.in.us>
Subject: Re: US-information warfare & KLA




On Wed, 14 Apr 1999, Brian J. Callahan wrote:

> Well, you have to go to Locke's Second Treatise on Government to see why 
> Jefferson called them inalienable.  Locke started from the assumption that 
> society is essentially a contract created in the misty past by individuals 
> who were tired of their lives being nasty, brutish and short (he was a big 
> Hobbes fan); and any *workable* society would grant the rights to life, 
> liberty and property (pursuit of happiness sounds more elevated).  

Yes, he is right:  It is a contract.  Except a lot of people have signed
under coercion, which even in small claims court in Indy-by-gawd-anna will
get a contract thrown out.  But we are only born with "inalienable rights"
if the contract is enforcable and unamendable.


> That's 
> because, if society didn't, the individuals who make up society would begin 
> to kill their oppressors thus returning things to the nasty, brutish times.  

Let's hear it for killing the oppressors.

> The "inalienable rights" stem from an analysis of what rational humans would 
> not stand for.                                       

Making, of course, the NATO intervention in Kosovo perfectly rational.

Thanks, brine-oh, I knew you could pull it out for me.


carpo