Glendon on responsibiltiy

I think Glendon sticks to the most important part of her argument in chapters three and four. To reiterate: Glendon is not critiquing the concept of rights as a whole, nor is she denying the ability of rights to play an important role in politics or political discourse. She is criticizing what she sees, primarily, is an American obsession with and over reliance on rights/rights discourse. Moreover, the instances in which rights are invoked most absolutely are when it is to the advantage of those with an upper hand in the legal system. To me, this is why property rights have been defended most staunchly and, as she addresses some in the Lone Rights-Bearer, rights of homosexuals to privacy/sexual freedom are ignored (60).

The most important lesson in this is--and something Glendon has clearly laid out in every chapter thus far--is that we would have to stretch pretty far to make any claim that the rights our country has established are natural in any sense. We have arrived at them through very particular historical processes and they can be changed based on particular social moods and conditions. This should serve both as a wake up call and a warning not to approach legal codes with dogmatism.

I particularly like her focus in chapter four. As citizens, if we want something done we should not let everything work through the courts but instead channel energy into democratic politics and get laws changed. Why do we need to have a right to be saved by Michael Phelps? Good Samaritan laws (as far as I remember) have improved since 1990 but they are not perfect. There are ways to fix the problem without resorting to rights claims, our default move when law fails to align with moral intuition.

I think a point Mackie makes (although with different intention) is telling here. Rights are attractive; duties are just plain ugly. Who wants to live their life in servitude? Glendon, with America as a case study, presents a significant disadvantage to the acceptance of a rights-based moral theory. As I noted in my last post, Raz might find a good ally in Glendon.