Fundamental Rights Should be Inalienable Rights (Part IV)

In a perfect world Fundamental Rights would not be necessary. Fundamental Rights are a necessary evil to protect our Liberties. More Fundamental Rights means a much more complex and expensive justice system. If, for example, it was a Fundamental Right to purchase coffee think about how much law enforcement would be needed to investigate violations of this right. More Fundamental Rights means more chaos and actually less Liberty for everyone.

The biggest threat to our Liberty and Fundamental Rights are government agency monopolies since legislation and judicial precedent is long lasting. Government is a necessary evil, but unfortunately much of what they do is an unnecessary evil. In past writings, I have pointed out the evils of the Supreme Court whose sworn duty is to protect us from bad legislation but instead they have become a “rubber stamp” for government power grabs. The Court has also unsuccessfully defended federalism and separation of powers that were designed to protect us from government monopolies and unnecessary power. Government is a monopoly and therefore they can do things (or get away with things) that ordinary citizens would be jailed for. Conservatives view government monopolies as necessary (maybe smaller in size) to prevent corruption of human behavior: gambling, cigarettes, drinking, drugs, crime, homosexual behavior and so forth. Conservatives want government to force moral legislation to control human behavior. Liberals, on the other hand, want a big monopolized government to prevent one group of people from taking advantage of another group of people. Liberals view government power necessary to protect minorities, illegal immigrants, women, Muslims, and so forth. Both groups will use absolute power to attain their goals even if it means violating the Liberty and Fundamental Rights of citizens.

Consider the Conservative want for a strong military. With our current military enrollment at low levels, conservatives may see a need to institute a draft. However, any draft would violate the Thirteenth Amendment which outlaws slavery and indentured servitude. The rights of cigarette smokers have been violated with higher taxes and restrictions on smoking areas (even on public property). This is discrimination, but cigarette smoke does affect persons in close proximity to the smoker. Conservative government has backed consumption taxes on many so called immoral activities: gambling, alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana. Liberals have done the same, including implementing “sugar” taxes on dozens of products. Conservatives back the monopoly police force in our country to prevent crime. However, monopolies are never efficient since they face little competition. The actual clearance rate (percent of crimes solved – Burglary, Theft, Robbery, Rape, Assault, and Murder) is less than 40% and even more violators will get off at trial since the justice system presumes innocence (another necessary evil to protect against wrongful convictions). The police have a tough job and I would not want to do it, but these conviction rates are not very good. On the other hand, liberals will protect the rights of an illegal alien over a U.S. citizen. Any illegal alien who accepts government funding, fails to pay taxes, and or accepts a job that would otherwise go to a U.S. citizen is violating the rights of U.S. citizens. Liberals providing preferential treatment to a minority group through legislation such as diversity, affirmative action, or a quota based system is violating the rights of majority groups. Liberals support the taking of private property to be distributed for private reasons is also violating a person’s rights. Many companies are providing Muslims with preferential treatment over other religious groups by providing them with prayer rooms and foot baths. And there is little that can be done to stop a monopolized government and judicial system from violating the rights of one group of people at the expense of another.

Providing competition against government monopolies can help resolve some of these rights violations. UPS and Fed Ex have competed against the Post Office with success. Hence, it is plausible to compete against other government monopolies. For instance, many private citizens are using their Fundamental Right of freedom of contract to employ private security personnel and systems to protect their rights that the police have been pursuing unsatisfactorily. Also, the Fundamental Right to self-defense would reduce crime. Criminals are more afraid of confronting a potentially armed victim than being caught by the police. Criminals (as do most people) place a priority on the present and neglect contemplating future consequences. This explains why steeper penalties do not deter criminals. As for the justice department monopoly there are private court systems that are competing against our inefficient public court system with success. It would also be useful to change payment methodologies in public courts where the losing party would pay for all Court fees. This would provide restitution to victims, provide relief to the wrongly accused, and eliminate abuse within the system. Using private prisons (instead of public ones) where inmates can work and pay restitution to victims helps protect the rights of victims and would also deter crime. Clearly in areas like Chicago where the violent crime rate is so high, citizens should be able to practice their Fundamental Right of “freedom from contract” to withhold tax money that can be used instead to employ other security options. People have no say over how their taxes will be used and that should change to hold government agencies accountable. When government agencies fail, citizens should have the right to withhold tax dollars. Government monopolies are coercive by nature because they know people will have to pay taxes or be jailed. Hence, there is no motivation or incentive for agencies to perform adequately, but there is plenty of incentive to be wasteful and even corrupt. Further preventions against government monopolies should allow jurisdictions the power to succeed from the Union if the government is failing them (another federalism power the Supreme Court has denied). Think about the dissolution of the old Soviet Union. Nations succeeded from Russia because their government was failing them. Of course, Southern states succeeding before the Civil War puts this power in question when it is done for the wrong reasons (slavery).