Isaiah Berlin explained this best by the idea of negative rights. Negative rights are things like what we have in the Bill of Rights. Things that government can not do. This can be expanded to what other people can not take from you. But today when instead of negative rights, we have positive rights, that creates slavery.If someone has a right to things like housing or food, then that means other are forced -forced labor- to provide it. Forced labor is what is usually called ''slavery.'' And so now Blacks are the masters, and whites are the slaves.
Right do exist in Nature. They are the more modern way that ''natural law'' exists. That is;- instead of saying "Thou shalt not steal," John Locke used a concept that means in essence the same thing, but puts the emphasis on the person himself. The ''Right'' is what the man has himself. ''Thou shalt not steal'' is what others can not do to him. He based this on Natural Law which began with Saadia Gaon and the Rambam, and was developed in detail by Aquinas.
I could say simply to read the Two Treaties of Government by John Locke, but even there he does not spell this all out in simple words, so I thought it is upon me to explain this.
Really you have to go in your mind to consider the "State of Nature." In the "State of Nature" man has full rights. But there is a disadvantage. He can not protect himself. Even the strongest man needs to sleep. Thus, in order to form a community, man gives up some of his rights --property etc., whatever is necessary in order to form that community;- so that the rest of his rights and person will be protected.
This concept of rights is the exact opposite of Rousseau. The John Locke concept gave birth to the American Democracy. The Rousseau concept of the "general will" [where the community has all the rights, and give only what it wants to the individual] gave birth to totalitarianism.
Slogans are important. Men's minds are ruled by slogans. Thus I though to suggest two simple slogans. One for the above essay and another for women.
To put this all into a simple slogan: "Black is Ugly"
You could add another complementary slgan for women "Fat is Ugly and Disgusting."
[In any case this is a very brief account. And you can not learn this in philosophy courses nor in political science. You have got to trace the development of the ideas yourself from Saadia and Maimonides through Aquinas to John Locke and the read very carefully the Two Treaties along with the whole context of the state of nature thinker Hobbes. Or you can take my word for it that John Locke's approach is the polar opposite of Rousseau.]
Right do exist in Nature. They are the more modern way that ''natural law'' exists. That is;- instead of saying "Thou shalt not steal," John Locke used a concept that means in essence the same thing, but puts the emphasis on the person himself. The ''Right'' is what the man has himself. ''Thou shalt not steal'' is what others can not do to him. He based this on Natural Law which began with Saadia Gaon and the Rambam, and was developed in detail by Aquinas.
I could say simply to read the Two Treaties of Government by John Locke, but even there he does not spell this all out in simple words, so I thought it is upon me to explain this.
Really you have to go in your mind to consider the "State of Nature." In the "State of Nature" man has full rights. But there is a disadvantage. He can not protect himself. Even the strongest man needs to sleep. Thus, in order to form a community, man gives up some of his rights --property etc., whatever is necessary in order to form that community;- so that the rest of his rights and person will be protected.
This concept of rights is the exact opposite of Rousseau. The John Locke concept gave birth to the American Democracy. The Rousseau concept of the "general will" [where the community has all the rights, and give only what it wants to the individual] gave birth to totalitarianism.
Slogans are important. Men's minds are ruled by slogans. Thus I though to suggest two simple slogans. One for the above essay and another for women.
To put this all into a simple slogan: "Black is Ugly"
You could add another complementary slgan for women "Fat is Ugly and Disgusting."
[In any case this is a very brief account. And you can not learn this in philosophy courses nor in political science. You have got to trace the development of the ideas yourself from Saadia and Maimonides through Aquinas to John Locke and the read very carefully the Two Treaties along with the whole context of the state of nature thinker Hobbes. Or you can take my word for it that John Locke's approach is the polar opposite of Rousseau.]
