Student Expelled for Tweet

[kentonio]

Yes because that's not a limitation on government and therefore doesn't belong in a bill of rights. It's a legislative matter, not a constitutional matter.

You seem to see 'rights' as a list of things the government can't do to you. That's a strange attitude for a country that seems to pride itself on its democracy. The government isn't some hostile force, the government is you.

[onodera]

Reg sounds like someone from a gulch.
Why shouldn't a group of people be able to enter into an agreement stating that for their taxes they should get universal healthcare and education?

[The Mad Monk]

You seem to see 'rights' as a list of things the government can't do to you. That's a strange attitude for a country that seems to pride itself on its democracy. The government isn't some hostile force, the government is you.

Government is like a fire, capable of being used for good, but also causing greivous harm if not tightly controled.

[BlackCat]

Government is like a fire, capable of being used for good, but also causing greivous harm if not tightly controled.

The same can be said about the citizens

[regexcellent]

You seem to see 'rights' as a list of things the government can't do to you. That's a strange attitude for a country that seems to pride itself on its democracy. The government isn't some hostile force, the government is you.

That is exactly how I see rights, and that is exactly how the people who wrote our constitution saw them.

The purpose of the constitution is to limit the government so that it can't be a hostile force. The government is uniquely capable of becoming an extremely dangerous hostile force, more than any other entity. Or as TMM said,

Government is like a fire, capable of being used for good, but also causing greivous harm if not tightly controled.

Just look around at countries like Zimbabwe and it becomes obvious that the one entity which is capable of individually destroying the entire country is the government.

[The Mad Monk]

The same can be said about the citizens

A man without power can only do so much.

[regexcellent]

What my employer or the university I attend, for instance, can or can't do to me have no bearing on my rights. I entered into mutually agreed-upon arrangements with them where terms were laid out ahead of time. If I voluntarily forfeited "rights" when I entered into those agreements, well, it's my right not to have the government interfere in that isn't it?

Well, that's not a right enshrined in the constitution of the United States or the constitution of the State of New York. But it demonstrates how having "protections" for "work safety" and so on aren't rights in the sense of the American Constitution.

[Aeson]

What my employer ... can or can't do to me have no bearing on my rights.

The 13th amendment

[Proteus_MST]

A man without power can only do so much.

(Mega-) corporations are neither the government, nor are they without power

[regexcellent]

Okay so if my employer puts a gun to my head and says "work," that's called extortion. Enabling the government to stop coercion and people harming each other is fine, obviously.

[regexcellent]

(Mega-) corporations are neither the government, nor are they without power

I'm not nearly as worried about private companies of any kind as I am about the government.

Microsoft does not have more power over me than the Monroe County Sheriff, let alone the Federal Government.

[Aeson]

Okay so if my employer puts a gun to my head and says "work," that's called extortion. Enabling the government to stop coercion and people harming each other is fine, obviously.

Translation: "It's ok for the constitution to force government to do things I like, but not ok for the constitution to force government to do things I don't like"

[BlackCat]

Just look around at countries like Zimbabwe and it becomes obvious that the one entity which is capable of individually destroying the entire country is the government.

This is a joke, rigth ? Please, say yes, not a good one, but yes, it's a joke.

[Aeson]

The only difference between Zimbabwe and the US is that the US doesn't have universal healthcare in it's constitution!

[The Mad Monk]

No, I would say that most of Zimbabwe's troubles are firmly in the lap of it's government.