Monday, June 06, 2016

Positively imaginary things and their rights

I just read a strange string of words: "A country has the right to..."

Really?

It doesn't matter what the supposed right was, since a collective has no rights and never can.

Rights are purely individual in nature. A collective can't have any rights not held by every individual voluntary member of that collective (and if the group is truly voluntary for each and every member, I don't consider it a collective). And a coercive collective isn't even true cooperation- it is just a big rights-violating party where a few individuals live as parasites on the rest of the individuals.

Those rights held by a voluntary group's individual members don't change one iota due to membership in that group. Disband the group and the rights remain unchanged. The group is completely inconsequential to any rights which the individuals have.

So, no. A country has no rights. The individuals in that country have all the rights, and those rights are almost certainly violated most seriously by the individuals acting on behalf of that imaginary coercive collective they call the "country".

-
If you get any value from my labors, consider rewarding me with your financial support. This blog is in its 10th year now. If you believe I have contributed anything to the conversation regarding liberty during these ten years, and believe I have more to contribute, help me stay online. .