Coase Colored Glasses
A nice piece on rights from Don Boudreaux at Cafe Hayek.
Our 'Most Important Right'?
Don Boudreaux
I learned today, listening to this NPR interview of David Rakoff, that the U.S. Department of Justice asks people seeking to become citizens of the United States "What is the most important right granted to United States citizens?" (See also here.) The answer is "The right to vote."
Not the right to be free from arbitrary arrest and to the writ of habeas corpus; not the right to acquire, use, transfer, and be secure in the possession of property; not freedom of speech; not the right to a trial by jury – no. The right to vote. The right to yank a lever in a booth on intermittent occasions, along with thousands or millions of other people, the collective outcome of which is the election of a handful of power-mad, glib dissemblers who specialize in picking each of our pockets, transferring the booty to special-interest groups, and persuading us that we are strengthened, enriched, and raised to glory by it all.
Some right.
posted by randytsimmons @ 12:24 PM
10 Comments:
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The fact that most people today do not vote based on policy, but remain uniformed and vote on "likeability" leads me to think that it is not voting that is important, it is making sure that each "elected" official does not stay in power for too long. If our ultimate goal is to prevent a dictatorship, would not simply replacing our leaders ever so often be enough? Does it matter whether they are voted for or installed in some other fashion?
J. Alexander,
Most dictatorships, as you call them, do not occur through gradual acquisition of power. Rather, they occur through abrupt ascensions amidst political turmoil.
While the right to vote may be important (I am slightly less cynical than Dr. Simmons- especially in local elections in small towns where it literally does come down to a handful of votes..... hint hint), a more important right is the right is the access that Americans have to the courts.
It is in the courts, not at the ballot box, that individual rights can be guarded and ensured. If the county government, for example, wishes to illegally seize your property your most likely avenue of recourse is not to wait and defeat the elected officials in the next election- it's to challenge the action in court.
T.R.
Excellent point. Our access to the courts is very important as it is all part of preserving property and legal rights, which is absolutely necessary for maintaining stability and economic efficiency.
I would agree that having the right to vote would be the greatest benefits to living in America. Why? It is by voting that we have the laws we do (though indirectly I know). We are able to vote in those who represent us and our views. It is through those elected officials that we have the opportunities to be whom ever we want and do whatever we desire.
The rights we have now can be traced back to those who we elected, can they not?
Spencer,
I find this statement interesting:
We are able to vote in those who represent us and our views.
Really?
I have voted in pretty much every primary and general election since I was 18 (1998) and I don't ever recall voting for any candidate who "represent[ed] [my] views" in their entirety."
And that is one of the shortcomings of the power of voting. In choosing between candidate Blue and candidate Red I vote for the person who most represents my views. Even so, the candidate I vote for will have positions and planks that I may oppose or even find repulsive. I just find them less repulsive than the opposition.
For example, if I lived in Providence I may vote for Dr. Simmons for Mayor because I beleive that the Mayor shouldn't (and cannot legally) be a full-time Mayor even though I know that he loves baseball and will likely provide it ample funding.
I agree that voting is the most important right that we have in the United States. It is the foundation of our country. If the colonists had not been ruled by the english parliment without representaion they would not have felt the need to revoult. In other words if they had the right to vote, we might not even be our own country.
It is through voting that we influence government. It is how we make our voice heard. I do not always agree with what the elected officials do, sometimes it may even make me sick, but that is part of what keeps me going back to vote - the desire to change how I am being governed.
I vote because I am proud to be an American, because I believe that I live in the greatest country in the world. I vote to keep alive all of the other rights that mean so much to me. I vote to protect them from people who want to take them away. My vote matters! It may not mattter to you; but it matters to me, knowing that in some small way I can have a voice in governmnet.
I would give up any other right before I would give up my right to vote. The colonists did not fight and die for freedom of speach, or religion, or the right to own a gun or sell nails to new york. They fought and died for the freedom to decide for themselves how they would be governed. They fought for the right to vote. They died for the right to vote.
Wow, what a surge of patriotism. I agree that the right to vote is very important. Is it the most important? The fact is your solitary vote doesn't make a whole lot of difference, except in local government where voter turnout is so small and the margin of victory is often in double digits. Most elections, especial in states like ours where there is a clear and strong majority, are not even a contest.
I think most people are stupid. So I don't want most people to vote. In fact, if i could, I'd reinstitute the literacy test, add a political science test, and that you have held a job for at least a year. Weren't the writers of the constitution hesitant about giving so much power to the people (at the time most people were uneducated country folk), but what has changed today? nothing. most people are still stupid. and we don't want stupid people making decisions. All this freedom and liberty stuff to vote is bull $#!t. When it comes down to it do we really want dumb people to have a say in what is good politics, or do we want to be free to vote for the sake of dumb people?
I love puppies,
since people are stupid do they need government to run their lives?
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