too many laws, too many idiots.

"A Human right is something of which no one may be deprived without a grave affront to justice..." (Maurice Cranston).
The quote may be suspiciously vague, but it is a definition that I am willing to work with as a standing definition to what, loosely, a human right is. If all human beings were rational, clear thinking, individuals, rather than manipulative, looting collectivists, the rights question of whether or not we have too many and why would be a very clear answer to all.... (the answer would be yes.............). Unfortunately, societies are not perfect, and we do indeed find ourselves stuck with individuals who will take and take from the law their “rights” without doing their part to the government who lawfully gives “rights” to them in the first place.

On this note, I agree with Wellman when he seems to lean toward the side of the argument that says the proliferation of laws is getting out of hand. He specifically brings up worker’s strikes- an example I will use for the time being to further my point that the more laws there are, the more chances there are for people to manipulate them. Does someone a position of such importance as a teacher truly have a moral right to go on strike from her class, who obviously did not do anything to breach the claim they have on her for her to teach them? I believe that for a teacher to go on strike is more or less a manipulation of a law set in place to give other types of employees opportunities to argue their points in a manner that will get across quite bluntly to their adversaries. Teachers, on the other hand, should have other measures besides sacrificing the well being of her or his class. Manipulation.

Another act of people manipulating moral and legal laws? I shall move on to the touchy subject of abortion. The legalization of abortion was ideally set in the right place, more or less giving a legal right, and TRUSTING citizens with that right, to mothers over their own bodies. Ideally, this law would let mothers make the tough decision of whether or not the situation truly called for an extinguishing of another human life- the government trusts mothers to think rationally, for their childs best interest in mind (more or less), but sadly, this trust is always going to be breached and manipulated by those mothers who have such a terrible sense of consciousness that they would actually abort their child for the good of their own selfish desires.

Selfish desires. More law lends itself to more and more selfish desires, selfish rights, and the unwillingness to concede such rights to the good of a better and more moral cause than oneself. The more rights the government chooses to give me, the less I feel I deserve to give up. The more I feel entitled to these elusive “rights”, whether it’s the right to not be sexually harassed, or the right to breathe clean air in a bar. Rights and society must exist in a series of checks and balances- for society to work, I can be given the right to free speech, but I will NOT be given the right to slander/ libel.

In cases of law, there are always outstanding circumstances. The legality of certain laws are always highly individualistic: there will always be those who will manipulate it, and always be the ones who NEED it to subsist successfully on this earth (Ex: abortion legality causes some individuals to kill needlessly, but it also allows others to make the hard decision that they could not possibly be a mother at this certain moment.) Because of this, it is hard to make any of these moralistic laws illegal. What will happen to the innocent who need it to live their lives in a better way? That’s why, in my personal, naïve, opinion, I am a strong believer that law should only PROTECT the health and safety of my living being. Other than that, in a society as big as ours, we must surrender to trusting those we give the legality of the law to, to make the correct, rational decisions.