utbagpiper
Banned
Legitimate authority comes from exercise of my rights against intrusion from others. If someone's choice is to harm me, I have every legitimate right and power to prevent him from doing so. I do that by exercising authority over his life and choices.
Some forms of harm violate natural rights that we all recognize: My right to life, my health, my right to own and control my property. Theft, assault, rape, and murder all clearly violate my rights and I have legitimate right to impose on those who would choose to so assault me.
Some forms of harm have less to do with natural rights, but are every bit as damaging. I don't care how much someone wants to drive on the left side of the road. Our society having determined that we will drive on the right side of the road, that is what we are going to enforce for the safety of everyone and the ability to use public roads.
I doubt there is much disagreement thus far. But from here we can move quickly into areas where there is disagreement about what are real rights vs what are not rights. And I find the closer people live next to each other, the more one's neighbor's conduct affects him. On 1,000+ acre farms/ranches, there isn't a lot your neighbor can do to affect you. But when one lives in a high rise apartment sharing 2 walls, a floor, and a ceiling with neighbors? I once helped someone move out of an apartment that had the rule that in-apartment clothes washers and dryers could not be used between 10 pm and 2 am. They were too prone to making a lot of noise (including when a washer went out of balance during a spin cycle) and disturbing others' night sleep.
This is why cities naturally breed liberals and why rural areas tend to be far more conservative or even libertarian.
There are also issues when men of good conscience honestly disagree. Is a man of a different race equal and entitled to all the same rights? What about a woman? What about a baby who has not yet been born? Those first two question our society has answered well. The last question is still very much under debate.
Just remember, that even among gun owners one doesn't have to be a libertarian or even a conservative. One can be very supportive of RKBA while still favoring a social contract type of construct in which socialized medicine, cradle-to-grave welfare, highly restrictive environmental laws, and other big government controls are common. It is, of course, natural for pro-RKBA types to favor limited government. The key reason for the 2nd amendment was to limit government power in the extreme condition. But we have many potential allies who want RKBA for self-defense from common thugs, but who also favor big government in many areas. Their support, especially in keeping gun-grabbing Democrat politicians from pushing attacks on our RKBA, is useful. We ought not alienate them, even if we disagree about everything except RKBA.
