printRICK SANTORUM said this during the CNN Western Republican Debate, last night: “I disagree in some respects with Congressman Paul, who says the country is founded on the individual. The basic building block of a society is not an individual. It’s the family. That’s the basic unit of society.”
[SNIP]
What came first; the unit or its constituent parts? Is not a social unit like the family comprised of individuals? And did not the sovereign states precede the union? Although it all begins with the individual, the preeminence of the individual in no way negates the vitality of the family.
CONGRESSMAN RON PAUL REPLIED: “Well, I would like to explain that rights don’t come in bunches. Rights come as individuals, they come from a God, and they come as each individual has a right to life and liberty.”
Someone please stand up for property, next time. The defense of private property rights is urgent as the Occupy Wall Street hooligans encroach.
UPDATE: Contemplationist below is right. With his “Live, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” as I observed, Jefferson has “bequeathed us a vagueness that has helped undermine the foundation of civilization: private property.”
What came first – the chicken or the egg?
I believe Ron Paul has it correct: an individual precedes a family. I also believe that Rick Santorum is correct: the family is the basic building block of society.
And, Ilana is correct: Although it all begins with the individual, the preeminence of the individual in no way negates the vitality of the family.
Way back in the “old days”, the Traditional Family was considered the Basic Block and that is what was taught in the schools I attended. I also understood that the Basic Block facilitated the legal transfer of property to the “legitimate heirs”. Well, someone with more historical information that I have can further explain.
Yes, Ilana, as someone who lived in Detroit during the 1967 riots, Real Property as well as Personal Property was destroyed on a massive scale. At this point, the OCCUPIERS are rank amateurs. But, will these people play-out their resentments, anger, jealousy, entitlement attitudes a la Greece?
I hope they are not that stupid.
Note: Ilana’s words should be in Quotes:
“Although it all begins with the individual, the preeminence of the individual in no way negates the vitality of the family.”
The real skinny about Property and Other Rights from THE JUDGE…
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/1011/napolitano.php3
…and I hope he will eventually be appointed to the SCOTUS.
Knowing Dr. Paul’s positions as I do, individual rights and property rights are inseparable. They are one and the same.
The term property however didn’t come up in that discussion because it was about group vs. individual. Had it been about Kelo, or some such, RP would have painted a much different picture.
In terms of protests, people should obviously only be allowed to protest on public land or private land where they have permission.
I agree with Dennis. Santorum is paraphrasing Aristotle’s Politics (Intentionally? I wonder), which lays out a hierarchy for a functional building block of society: Man > Wife > Children (although Aristotle includes slaves and we typically do not).
Keep in mind that this model assumed rational actors because every individual gets something material out of the arrangement. It’s just like Boss > Worker, where the hierarchy exists to benefit both actors. This is why Aristotelian conservatism is generally compatible with libertarianism.
Parents keep their children alive and raise them properly so that they will have someone to look after them in their old age, as well as providing them with grandchildren. Children submit to their parents so they won’t get kicked out of the house and starve in the streets.
Note that any party can take the rational course of action when the other party becomes overbearing; they can cancel the contract.
(This hierarchy gets a little shaky and ambiguous as the male children approach adulthood, which is why smart societies get them out of the house distracted by learning to hunt/farm/work/etc.)
[Provide email address, next time. See Posting policy.]
I agree with Newt Gingrich that very little of philisophical coherence can come out of debates focused on 30 second sound bites. I am sure that Ron Paul supports property rights but don’t expect much of that debate format – best suited to silly confrontations of Perry vs. Romney on Romney’s hiring of lawn service contractors (my sympathy on that stupid nit goes to Mitt).
Ask Pope Santorum why the Ten Commandments were given to everyone as individuals instead of just to “families” (e.g. Honor THY mother and father, THOU shalt not steal). Did Santorum’s father select his bride for him?
As Bugs Bunny might have observed about Pope Rick I: “what a maroon”!
Absolutely!
This was Jefferson’s biggest mistake – modifying Life, Liberty and Property to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. The former was universally understood by English-speaking peoples – the latter was an aspirational addition, which, 130 years later enabled the leftist revolution.