Text 14554, 64 rader
Skriven 2010-12-16 16:18:28 av Bob Ackley (1:300/3)
  Kommentar till text 14551 av TIM RICHARDSON (1:123/140)
Ärende: Obamacare
=================
Replying to a message of TIM RICHARDSON to BOB ACKLEY:

 RC>> and licensing oneself to drive or licensing a vehicle is a privilege,
 RC>> not a right.

 BA>> Actually, according to the Supreme Court of the United States in a
 BA>> 1945 decision, operating one's own personal automobile on the public
 BA>> roads is in fact a right, not a privilege.  It stems from the right
 BA>> to travel freely in this country.  I know the various control freaks
 BA>> and all state governments don't want people to know about that, but
 BA>> it is a fact.

 TR> Quite some time ago one of the Carolina's (I think it was) went
 TR> through a series of court cases over that very question.

 TR> I seem to recall that the argument was whether or not driving was a
 TR> privilege, or a right.

 TR> It goes to the heart of a citizen's right to move to and fro
 TR> throughout these United States, and the means of travel they use.

 TR> A state can only require that a person be qualified to operate the
 TR> vehicle they are driving, and are versed in the common rules that
 TR> apply to driving throughout the entire United States.

 TR> A person passes certain qualification tests in order to prove to the
 TR> state in which they reside, that they are aware of the rules of the
 TR> road, that they can operate the vehicle they intend to use within
 TR> those rules, etc etc.

 TR> A drivers license is nothing more than proof of your qualification and
 TR> understanding of the rules of operation that prevail throughout the
 TR> country.

 TR> But it is a `right'.....not a `privilege'.

 TR> `Rights' however, can be curtailed or removed altogether. Where you
 TR> have the `right' to operate your own vehicle on a public street or
 TR> road, you do `not' have the right to do so in a reckless and
 TR> dangerous manner, or under the influence of mind or physically
 TR> impairing substances.

Agreed.  As I've consitently held, the *right* to operate one's own personal
motor vehicle on the public roads includes the *responsibility* to operate it
safely and to recognize that everybody else using those public roads has
exactly
the same *right* to do so.

 TR> Just like your `right' to own and possess a firearm can be lost by
 TR> committing a criminal act, and being convicted of that in a court,
 TR> your `right' to drive can be restricted or revoked for your own
 TR> dangerous behavior behind the wheel.

 TR> When a government starts talking about `privileges' and the citizenry
 TR> say nothing, `rights' become blurred and the government will walk all
 TR> over the citizens.

 TR> Driving is not a `privilege' a government grants you, it is a `right'
 TR> you already have that carries responsibilities with it.

I think we're on the same page here.

--- FleetStreet 1.19+
 * Origin: Bob's Boneyard, Emerson, Iowa (1:300/3)