Constitutional Carry, Constitutional driving? Voting?
I've gotten into an interesting Facebook conversation on rights. It started with an event invite to an upcoming meeting of local Libertarians on gun politics. A curious Facebooker asked a question, and I found that my answer was getting long, so, here it is in blog form:
Good questions. I hope you'll indulge me for a bit of a deep dive to try and share my understanding.
First, the Constitution doesn't say anything about what age you can drive, or whether you need to carry an ID card while driving. What it does say in the 10th amendment is that it's up to the states and people to figure out anything not spelled out in the Constitution. So, the limits imposed on your right to drive don't come from the Constitution or from DC, they come from the state legislature. It just so happens that DC has persuaded all state legislatures to make similar rules by taxing money out of the states and giving it back with strings attached. That's another long conversation. But, if you are driving on private roads, you are not required to have a state permit.
Voting rights are an interesting topic to explore. Do I have a right to vote in the business of the Rotary Club, for example, even though I am not a member of the Rotary Club? It's silly to even ask. I can only vote in an association in which I have membership. I have "membership" in this country via citizenship. I didn't ask for it, but I have it anyway, and it seems I need to use it if only to keep other people from voting my rights out of existence.
The right to vote and the right to bear arms are not cut from the same cloth. Notice that the Second Amendment doesn't claim to create the right to bear arms. It assumes that the right exists before, above and beyond the Constitution, and simply says that Congress, the President, and the states aren't supposed to touch it. That's how it treats all of the rights in the Bill of Rights, including free speech and due process. Even if the Constitution never existed, you would have the right to defend your existence. It doesn't make sense to say that you would have the right to vote on who is in Congress if the Constitution never created Congress.
You talk about responsibility being attached to rights. Libertarians do tend to believe very strongly in responsibility, but we don't think that either DC or the state government has the moral authority to impose their idea of responsibility on us. My nine year old is every bit as responsible as certain people in Washington.
Anyhow, that's how I see it.
Thank you for your response. My question wasn’t in regards to self-defense, but for the purpose of understanding a viewpoint regarding Constitutional carry that I read in relation to HB2. It seems that this article highlighted the fact that a constitutional right, such as to bear arms shouldn’t carry the same responsibility as other constitutional rights. For instance, I had a constitutional right to drive at age 15, but I still had to learn how to operate a vehicle and obtain a permit to do so legally. Or I have the constitutional right to vote, but I still must register to do so legally.
Good questions. I hope you'll indulge me for a bit of a deep dive to try and share my understanding.
First, the Constitution doesn't say anything about what age you can drive, or whether you need to carry an ID card while driving. What it does say in the 10th amendment is that it's up to the states and people to figure out anything not spelled out in the Constitution. So, the limits imposed on your right to drive don't come from the Constitution or from DC, they come from the state legislature. It just so happens that DC has persuaded all state legislatures to make similar rules by taxing money out of the states and giving it back with strings attached. That's another long conversation. But, if you are driving on private roads, you are not required to have a state permit.
Voting rights are an interesting topic to explore. Do I have a right to vote in the business of the Rotary Club, for example, even though I am not a member of the Rotary Club? It's silly to even ask. I can only vote in an association in which I have membership. I have "membership" in this country via citizenship. I didn't ask for it, but I have it anyway, and it seems I need to use it if only to keep other people from voting my rights out of existence.
The right to vote and the right to bear arms are not cut from the same cloth. Notice that the Second Amendment doesn't claim to create the right to bear arms. It assumes that the right exists before, above and beyond the Constitution, and simply says that Congress, the President, and the states aren't supposed to touch it. That's how it treats all of the rights in the Bill of Rights, including free speech and due process. Even if the Constitution never existed, you would have the right to defend your existence. It doesn't make sense to say that you would have the right to vote on who is in Congress if the Constitution never created Congress.
You talk about responsibility being attached to rights. Libertarians do tend to believe very strongly in responsibility, but we don't think that either DC or the state government has the moral authority to impose their idea of responsibility on us. My nine year old is every bit as responsible as certain people in Washington.
Anyhow, that's how I see it.
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