Notices where this attachment appears
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@amerika @Ninji @kaia @thatguyoverthere
> * Natural rights = gov't prevented from doign things
> * Civil rights = gov't given mandate to enforce equality
A "right" is that which is due to you, and we classify them by means of the authority under which they are granted.
I'd put "natural rights" as those things which a stranger may not prevent you from doing, and "civil rights" as the things that are due to you by statute, the things that define your relationship to the government. Contractual rights are granted by a contract.
So, natural rights of man, you speak your mind, listen to others speak theirs, acquire knowledge, eat what food you can acquire, reproduce, defend your family and domicile, etc. Civil rights include voting, the right to a fair trial, etc., and are mostly concerned with mitigating that we live in a society. The enforced equality stuff, civil rights are the only one of the two that could plausibly apply: your civil rights are defined by the law. You have no natural right to compel someone to bake you a cake that they do not want to bake, but the civil right can be granted. Likewise, you do not have the natural right to be judged (or even noticed) by a jury of your peers, but you do have the civil right, and this was a necessary consequence of the government's statutory right to arrest and try people.
So:
> * Civil rights = gov't given mandate to enforce equality
Any right would be civil if granted by the legitimate government, "legitimate" defined by the Spartan border¹, so it would include legislation like the Civil Rights Act, but I think your definition is too narrow. Any attempt by the government to enforce equality would necessarily be a civil right, but you have the right to freely travel between states, that's civil, and you have the right to drive in your car on federal roads and that is granted by statute as the holder of a valid license.
This image has nothing to do with anything except that I like to post it.
¹ I don't know if anyone uses this phrase besides me but it's too useful to not use so I use it a lot. I'm certain I've used it when talking with @amerika before, but for the sake of anyone that happens upon this thread, there's an old story of an Athenian talking to a Spartan guard at the city gates, and the Athenian smugly asks the Spartan to tell him how far the borders of Sparta extend, intending to make a point about Sparta being small. The Spartan extends his spear and says "This far." So the "Spartan border" would be the limits of your governing body's ability and willingness to project force. Ultimately, this is what defines a border, succinctly, and any attempt to define a government's legitimacy beyond that is ignoring reality for the sake of an agenda.
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