Homework 12 ((Due 9/21/09 by 5:00 PM) (Four Points)

Part 1: Rights Theory
A relatively new idea in the history of ethics is that morality can be described completely by enumerating the rights of human beings and then acting so that those right are maximized. You should all be familiar with this theory since it was a major component in the founding of our country. We actually have in our Constitution a specific list of such rights and the statement that “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.” (Amendment 9) Our government is designed around the idea that justice is the situation which obtains when people have the maximum protection of their rights.

Instead of explaining how Rights Theory works, I want you to consider the following list of rights and evaluate how much in agreement you are that these are fundamental human rights. I also want you to describe the source of each of these rights.

Below is a list of candidates for rights and duties. On a scale of 1-5, how would you rank each of them. After ranking them, list from where you think that right or duty comes.

Rights
5 = Fundamental right
4 = Important right
3 = Generally a right
2 = Occasionally a right
1 = Not a right

Rights
1. To life
2. To liberty
3. To property
4. To worship according to your conscience
5. To own firearms
6. To free speech
7. To a job
8. To adequate medical care
9. To an education
10. To choose your own spouse
11. To have sex before marriage
12. To defend yourself if attacked
13. To enjoy sexual pleasure as you prefer.
14. To spank your children

Part 2
Answer the following questions.
15. Is the right to life violated by capital punishment? Why?
16. Is the right to liberty violated by mandatory school attendance? Why?
17. Is the right to property violated by income taxes? Why?
18. Is the right to pursuit of happiness violated by drug regulations? Why?
19. If someone else doesn’t think you have the right, do you still have it? Why?
20. When you say, “It’s my right to do this thing,” are you saying that it is excellent? Why?
21. Where do the rights in the Constitution come from?
22. If someone is being oppressed (perhaps he is prevented from speaking his mind), do we say he has no free speech rights or do we say that his free speech rights are being violated?

Part 3: Questions
Remember, yes and no are not sufficient answers to any of these questions. Explain yourself.
1. If you give bad people a lot of freedom, what happens? If you give good people a lot of freedom, what happens? What does our system of government presume about people?
2. What is the relationship between the size of a government and the morality of the people it governs?
3. What does the term “politically liberal” mean to you? Be specific.
4. What does the term “politically conservative” mean to you? Be specific.
5. If you wanted to take a free country like America and transform it into a tyranny, how might fear and the desire for security be of use to you?
6. If one of the principle founding ideals of our country is the right to property, how can we justify taxation? Does it make a difference if the benefit for the program comes back to the person himself or not?
7. Why might someone claim that winning the lottery or suing a rich person are both immoral ways to get rich?
8. Why is it important that the people who make the laws be required to live by those same laws?
9. Should people who do not have to pay a tax get to vote to impose that tax on other people? (i.e. Should poor people be able to tax the wealthy? Should non-landowners be able to levy property taxes?)
10. Is it more important to the stability of a society that its justice system arrive at the correct answers (innocent or guilty) or that the people believe in the process by which those answers are arrived at?
11. If people believe they will not and cannot be treated justly, how will they behave? (Consider how act when their boss does not treat them fairly.)
12. If something has been done a certain way for a long time, should we tend to leave such a tradition as it is or should we tend to try to change it?
13. Is it good to give money to charity? Is it okay to coerce someone by force to give money to a charitable cause?
14. Why might it be important that the people who make the laws be required to live by those same laws?
15. Which kind of person most often is heard demanding more freedom: morally mature or immature people?
16. What is the purpose of having a civil government? Is there anything it must do, should do, can do, cannot do?