Equal rights for all: The myth

Recent letters to the Sun have espoused an ‘equal rights for all' theme and many responses have acknowledged the impossibility or undesirability of this idea.

If you are a 65-year-old man you receive a state income, while younger people don't.

If you are a 15-year-old lass, you are not permitted to drive a car on the road, yet.

As a taxpayer you pay tax at a higher rate if you earn a high income, compared to those with lower earnings.

If you buy and sell capital items as a way of earning an income you can avoid paying any income tax.

From these few examples, we can see that society, with our sanction, acknowledges - and functions with - unequal rights so that the expression 'equal rights for all” is simply a high minded and empty saying.

I suspect that those who make it a core belief have been caught up in the seeming majesty of the phrase while not having actually thought about it. In fact, the whole idea is unachievable.

Time to put it to bed, methinks.

S Reid, Omokoroa.

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2 comments

Equal rights for all

Posted on 29-11-2019 14:01 | By crazyhorse

S Reid is using smoke and mirrors to fob off what people are really talking about when they say " equality" they mean not raising one group over all others on the basis of race!


Quite a sad letter really........

Posted on 01-12-2019 15:50 | By groutby

....S Reid clearly hasn't grasped the difference between 'rights' and 'legal and moral expectation'...so, if we didn't have laws as the guideline to work within, there would be what?..yes....total anarchy..everyone expecting everything and offering nothing..simply isn't going to work is it?. The supposed 'rights' referred to in the writers letter..if one has desire, drive and ability to earn more and subsequently pay more tax..if you do, own property as a result of ambition you have the ability to buy and sell under the terms of the law, not 'rights'...a 65 year old man ( I think women qualify also) get a pension after achieving a certain stage in life..by law..a 15 year old 'lass' ( male also?) you cannot do certain things under the law. If we were to exist under the terms of 'rights' for everyone, then everyone would expect everything for nothing, how long does that last?.


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