"We have enormous freedom. That’s not a gift that was given to us, it’s a legacy that was left to us by centuries of struggle. By centuries of people that most of whose names are completely forgotten, the ones who created the freedom and the rights we now have, and that will be taken away unless you constantly defend them."
- Noam Chomsky
@dansup
Sometimes I think the reason we have particular rights is because early society lacked the technology and organisation to restrict that freedom, and then people resisted its loss even after technology and society advanced.
If there were no such thing as cars, but someone invented them tomorrow, probably only professional drivers would be allowed to operate them. But since they were invented before the database and the administrative state, it's easy to get a licence.
@dansup
One of our fundamental constitutional #rights is that new taxes can only be imposed with the consent of the legislature. There are theoretical reasons for why that is required, but isn't the real reason that King John was incapable of administering a tax system without the co-operation of the nobility and the wealthy yeomen?