Some Rights Diminish Liberty

On April 20, 2013 Obama posted this exhortation
that  education was a positive right.

It is fashionable to pay lip service to rights, but what is often forgotten is that some rights diminish liberty rather than protect it.

Sources of Rights

 Notwithstanding the philosophical discussions about the source of rights - the primary thrust of the Declaration of Independence was that rights come not from the Government, but rather are endowed by God by which individuals are entitled by the mere fact that they exist.  

“We hold these truths to be self-evident,” the Declaration declares, “ that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator, with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

In the practical sense, rights can be formed (recognized) in the Constitution or they can be created by Statute.  Although it takes a greater effort to create Constitutional Rights - the Supreme Court has recognized - some argue created - rights using the 14th Amendment due process clause.  

The two natures of Rights.

A right can be negative or positive.  The labels don’t describe the desirability of the right, but rather the effect upon government.  

Negative Rights form a prohibition or limitation against government interference in that topic.  For example, the First Amendment states, “Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of Speech.”  Positive Rights require Government to provide a benefit or opportunity.  For example, the Sixth Amendment requires the Federal Government to provide a Jury in Criminal Trials.  

The Cost of Rights

Rights cost - and sometimes the cost can be significant.  Negative Rights require us to put up with offensive communications (1st Amendment); tolerating crime (6th Amendment); and lost tax revenue from religious activities (1st Amendment.)

Positive Rights cost as well because if Government must provide a benefit to one person - then Government must obligate another person or persons to pay for and provide it.  The right to a Jury and counsel obligates citizens to serve on Juries, and to pay for attorneys in some criminal cases.

Bottom-line: Positive Rights encroach upon liberty

We all love rights. Recognizing or creating positive rights seems like a harmless thing, but the creation of every positive right necessarily creates a Government enforceable obligation upon the people.  A government-enforceable obligation to pay or provide is the antithesis of liberty.  Therefore, be wary of politicians advocating new positive rights, because - as Obama's post readily admits - it will create an obligation that government can use force to fulfill.

Tax Fairness.

All Americans believe that everyone should pay their fair share of taxes.  However that bromide is as useless as it is specific.

The word “fair” is one of those useful, all-too-common, words in politics and debate that mean nothing objectively but permit the speaker and listener to fill in what ever meaning they choose with the assumption that their interpretation is universally shared.  For taxation what is “fair?”

Taxes: An Overview Part II

Taxes are not only eternal but as varied as human activities.  

Just as "Government" is not monolithic, taxes are not either.  We have Government on so many different levels:  Federal, State, City, County, and Special Districts.  Each of those governments can pass and impose so many different taxes.  American Citizens face the following taxes:

Taxes: An Overview

"In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes."

Though not the first to observe this truth, Benjamin Franklin penned this maxim in 1789.  Margaret Mitchell, the author of Gone with the Wind, wrote, "Death, taxes, and childbirth! There's never any convenient time for any of them."

Taxes have been around as long as Government - and in a more cruder form - as long as one human exerted dominance over another.  Other than laws prohibiting individual liberty; taxes are the most intrusive form of Government upon the individual.  

Core Truth Four: Trade Offs are unavoidable

New solutions always come with new problems.

By 1890 New York was running out of space.  There were at least a 150,000 horses living in New York.  Horses transported goods, services, and people throughout the streets, and while so occupied, each put out twenty-two pounds of horse manure each day.  This amounts to 90,000 pounds each month.

The problems caused by such a copious and never-ending amount of horse shit are easy to imagine.  George Waring, Jr., the City's Street Cleaning Commissioner, described the city as stinking "with emanations of putrefying organic matter."  City streets, according to Elizabeth Kolbert, were"literally carpeted with a warm, brown matting . . . smelling to heaven."  Brownstone apartment first floors were up one level to give relief from the smells.  Where lesser amounts of manure had been happily purchased by surrounding farmers - the over abundant supply had produced such a glut, that New York could not give the manure away.  

Core Truth Three: Unintended Consequences

Intentions are not results.

Good intentions do not matter.  

What matters are all of the consequences.

When you combine the truth that Incentives Matter with individuals pursuing their own subjective perceived interest you get our third Core Truth: Unintended Consequences.  Unintended consequences mean that individuals react to laws (or other changes) in ways that were not anticipated by the those imposing the change.  Sometimes the reactions are good, and sometimes the reactions are bad.

Core Truth Two: Incentives Matter

Economists' fundamental principle is "Incentives Matter."  This maxim means that people change their behavior to either obtain perceived benefits or avoid/reduce perceived costs.  If the perceived benefit outweighs the perceived cost - the individual is more likely to assume the cost. If the opposite is the case - the individual will seek ways to avoid or reduce the cost.