This book is for people who enjoy thinking about political ideas. What should the basic principles of government be? To protect our safety and provide a system of justice? To give us housing, an ed...view moreThis book is for people who enjoy thinking about political ideas. What should the basic principles of government be? To protect our safety and provide a system of justice? To give us housing, an education, and jobs? To make sure that we buckle up, stop smoking, and don’t get fat? Whatever you believe, you should be able to justify your beliefs. No, more than that. You should be able to prove that your beliefs are correct and that contradictory beliefs are incorrect. If you cannot do that, your beliefs are just another opinion, like all the other opinions out there.
In this book, I tackle the job of trying to prove that people have rights, natural rights, and I try to show as exactly as I can what those natural rights are. Most of those rights are what you would expect - the right to own property and the right to control your own body, for example. But many of my conclusions about rights are contrary to the “rights” we now have and would require significant changes in our government. For example, I conclude that you have no natural right to a trial by jury or to cross-examine a witness. On the other hand, you do have a natural right take drugs and start a business.
Is my proof correct or did I slip up somewhere? You decide.view less