TZUTC: -0500   
   MSGID: 13977.fidoallpolit@1:129/165 2413c772   
   REPLY: 2:221/360.0 5f9fe002   
   PID: Synchronet 3.16a-Win32  Nov 27 2014 MSC 1800   
   TID: SBBSecho 2.27-Win32 r1.256 Nov 27 2014 MSC 1800   
     Re: Weakling   
     By: Lee Lofaso to Alan Ianson on Mon Nov 02 2020 12:31 pm   
      
    > Hello Alan,   
    >    
    > >BH>What about the rights of the unborn as a human being?   
    > >   
    > >I think there are rights all around including the woman who needs to make   
    > > the decision to abort a pregnancy are not.   
    >    
    > In Saudi Arabia, Iran, and many other Islamic countries, women   
    > have no rights to abortion - or many other rights for that matter.   
    > So who gets to decide what rights are, and who is deserving to   
    > have said rights?   
    >    
    > --Lee   
    >    
    > --   
    > You're fired, Donald!   
    >    
   I guess that depends on who you ask, but I would answer that everyone deserves   
   certain rights and that it is a damn shame that some people do not.  Equality   
   would be one of those universal rights in my perfect world.  It would not be   
   acceptable to discriminate against anyone, anywhere in the world.  Obviously   
   there's a need for common sense like if a big fat man applied to be an   
   attendant on an airplane or if an old man with a bad back applied for a very   
   physically demanding occupation - so you cannot call those things   
   discrimination - that's more a case of the individual just not being a good fit   
   for the job and there needs to be a practical allowance for that.  However   
   nobody should be treated differently because of their skin color, sexual   
   orientation, gender itself, religion, etc.   
      
   I think a basic rule of thumb for what's allowed in society should tie back to   
   whether or not the action in question harms another person - and since we've   
   been on the topic, no, I'm not counting a fetus as a person.  I support law   
   that recognizes the infant as a person once its taken it's first breath.    
   Generally speaking, I believe people should have the right (legally speaking)   
   to cause harm to themselves but not in any significant capacity to others.  I   
   say significant capacity because of the argument that, say, calling someone a   
   hurtful name could be defined as causing them harm - and again that's another   
   example of something I feel is immoral and should be looked down upon but   
   should not be made illegal.  We should try to err on the side of allowing   
   people as much personal freedom as possible within the constraints of stopping   
   them from causing notable harm to others.   
      
   With regard to who gets to make the rules, well that's a bit tougher to answer.   
   Ultimately the people should make the rules - as in democracy - but obviously   
   our current system is far from perfect.  I wish we all got to vote on far more   
   of the big issues that come up.  Imagine if all Americans, for example, could   
   log onto a special government website and vote on key issues like which   
   proposed COVID stimulus package to pass (or whether to pass one at all for that   
   matter).  People could also vote on more localized issues based on where they   
   live - state government, even local government like whether to approve a   
   proposed public school budget.  We could vote on everything from national law   
   down to issues that affect just the town we live in.  I think that would be   
   neat!  Perhaps a short list of issues to vote on could be submitted at each   
   level of government - national, state, and local - and then citizens have one   
   month to vote.  Then next month you do it again.  I fear anything more than a   
   few key issues at each level, once a month, would become way too daunting   
   really fast though!  Oh, and obviously there should be retained certain core   
   laws of the land and rights of the individual that cannot ever be usurped by   
   vote.  For example, you cannot let the people vote that it's now legal to shoot   
   and kill anyone they want on Wednesdays :)   
   --- SBBSecho 2.27-Win32   
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