[lit-ideas] Re: Paying taxes for months on end
- From: Judy Evans <judithevans001@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 28 May 2005 13:41:40 +0100
Saturday, May 28, 2005, 1:00:55 PM, Phil Enns wrote:
PE> I had written:
> "There is no problem with 'The police have no right to .. ' because the
> word/sign 'right' does not refer us to talk of rights."
> to which Robert Paul replied:
RP> "I think this must mean that it need not lead us to talk further of
RP> rights."
PE> No, it means what I said it means. I can translate 'have no right to'
PE> into 'do not have the power to' with no semantic loss and certainly no
PE> need to start going on about rights.
*What*?! I "have no power to" reach the items on the top shelf in the
supermarket. But I have a (legal) right to reach them. I "have no power
to" stop my neighbours holding a party in the garden and I also have
no (legal) right to stop them doing it. I "have the power to" vote and
I have the right to vote.
The police "have the power to" violate almost all my civil rights but
they do not have the right to do that.
But perhaps this leads us into going on about power (and powers)
--
mailto:judithevans001@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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