The principle on which this country was founded was that governments and legislatures do not GIVE people their rights, God and/or the laws of Nature DO. Governments can only recognize and respect those rights, or fail to. When a person is in custody, to say “He is too evil to be given rights” is to say “He is too evil to be given justice.” To deny anyone justice because it would be inconvenient to the state for him to have justice sounds like a good definition of the abuse of power. It is a betrayal of the principles that define America. We may still choose to go there at times: but when we do, we should have no illusions about what we are doing. We are betraying ourselves. We do not respect the rights of “bad guys” for their sakes, but for ours. This is precisely what we should be talking about when we talk about “limited government.” The use of torture is the ultimate example of “unlimited government” and should be abhorred by anyone who does not believe in the absolute power of the state.
The principle on which this country was founded was that governments and legislatures do not GIVE people their rights, God and/or the laws of Nature DO. Governments can only recognize and respect those rights, or fail to. When a person is in custody, to say “He is too evil to be given rights” is to say “He is too evil to be given justice.” To deny anyone justice because it would be inconvenient to the state for him to have justice sounds like a good definition of the abuse of power. It is a betrayal of the principles that define America. We may still choose to go there at times: but when we do, we should have no illusions about what we are doing. We are betraying ourselves. We do not respect the rights of “bad guys” for their sakes, but for ours. This is precisely what we should be talking about when we talk about “limited government.” The use of torture is the ultimate example of “unlimited government” and should be abhorred by anyone who does not believe in the absolute power of the state.