NOTE: Our March meeting will again be at the Old Town Bistro, 3388 NW Byron St. in Old Town Silverdale. This time, though, it will be upstairs and served as a buffet.

WHAT ARE OUR RIGHTS?
by Jo Fox Burr

In the Opinion Section of the Kitsap Sun, Tuesday, March 9, 2010, Lt. Col. John E. Thorne, USAF (Ret) took his turn to express his views on what rights people actually have. The title of his article was “Too Often, ‘Rights’ Are Misconstrued.” It was meant to be primarily an argument against the rights of gays to serve in the military, though he quickly wanders away from this topic as the article proceeds. His logic was senseless to me, and I thought it would be interesting to dissect why.  Thorne says that the only rights people have are “to life, liberty, and the enjoyment and use of the property they honestly acquire.” Does he think he is quoting the Declaration of Independence? If so, what kind of a slip is it that substitutes “property” for “pursuit of happiness.” Does he really think that having property is equivalent to the pursuit of happiness? If so, there is not sufficient space here to explain how many ways he is wrong.

Early in the article, he states "groups such [as] gays, women, minorities, etc. do not have rights. Only individuals have rights.” Well, gays, women, and minorities are individuals. What Thorne seems to misconstrue is that the only true individuals who have rights are his “group,” straight white males. Now that is ridiculous.

Then Thorne talks about the fact that people are turned down from the military for physical reasons such as being too tall or too short or too heavy or having poor eyesight, thus, according to him, proving that no one has a right to serve in the military. Individuals with poor eyesight might have problems shooting straight and those that are too heavy or in poor health, might not be able to survive basic training. These seem like possible logical reasons to deny individuals military service. It does not follow that such reasons exist to deny gays, women, and minorities the right to serve. In the past, the reasons used to deny these groups of individuals this right were essentially cultural in nature. And as our culture has matured, one by one the doors of the military have opened to them. Gays are, simply, the last to be granted full open door acceptance. Their time has come. Our culture has finally matured enough for that.

As Thorne wanders away from his argument concerning gays, he indicates that all people share a right to life, but that “it places no affirmative obligation on anyone.” Hum, that leaves me scratching my head. He goes on to say that we do have a negative obligation which is “not to interfere with others right to life, liberty, and property.” Isn’t this rather an affirmative obligation not to interfere with others? My neighbor’s right to own a gun could interfere with my right to life, should he shoot me, even by accident. A person’s right to life has a higher priority than my neighbor’s right to enjoy and use his gun.

Next he claims that “There is no right to food, housing, health care, or anything else.” Anything else? There are no rights to anything? Hum. As for the right to food, housing, and health care, he seems most concerned that those who have ‘earned’ their rights should not be responsible for taking care of those who lack sufficient funds to pay for these ‘non- rights,’ a very Darwinian point of view. Yet he argues that we all have the right to life. Without food, people die. Without housing in winter, people die. Without sufficient health care, people die. It seems to me that only uncivilized societies deny these basic needs and “rights” to individuals so impoverished. Does he really believe that those relying on assistance do it out of choice? In the wake of Bush’s failed economy, it is common knowledge that jobs are just not that easy to find.

Toward the end he seems to imply we are headed towards either a dictatorial society or a Russian form of communism in which “a commissar [will decide] how much work we should all do and to what we are entitled.” This is rather melodramatic. It is so black and white. In reality, the world is far more complex, many shades of grays, not to mention other colors.

Thorne seems mostly focused on his own perceived rights and the threat he sees to them. He fails to look beyond himself to the health of our society as a whole. Discrimination against anyone is a form of hate primarily based on fear. Ridding our society of this kind of fear and hate only liberates it. The Great Depression taught us that excessive poverty is like a cancer that grows. Aside from humanitarian reasons, working to alleviate great poverty actually serves to protect our society’s well-being. Thorne’s actual rights would be in far greater jeopardy should we fail to think more about the common good that he seems to.
 

NEXT KCDW MEETING – MAR 24TH

Our speaker will be Sumner Schoenike, a semi-retired Pediatrician, who is courageously running for the 26th LD representative position currently held by Jan Angel. This will be a tough race and Sumner needs all the help we can give him.

"You don't have to be straight to be in the military; you just have to be able to shoot straight."  ~Barry Goldwater

Jo Fox Burr, Newsletter Editor; foxburr@comcast.net