More Great Moments in Human Rights

March 9, 2024 by Dan Mitchell

The libertarian view of human rights is basically “don’t hit people and don’t take their stuff.” 

Sort of a simplified version of the non-aggression principle about not initiating force against others.

This is sometimes called “negative liberty.” The freedom to be left alone.

Our friends on the left, by contrast, have the opposite perspective. They believe in so-called “positive liberty,” which means an entitlement to various handouts.

And they don’t care that those goodies can only be financed by using government coercion (via taxes, regulations, mandates, etc).

But today’s column is not going to involve a serious discussion of rights. Instead, I want to add to my satirical series on “great moments in human rights.”

The latest example comes from Spain, where you have the right to declare a different gender to get more benefits from the government.

Spain’s Left-wing government introduced a self-ID law in 2022 that made it simple to transition formally, while at the same time boosting benefits for women in the military and security forces. Since the change was introduced, 41 men have become women in the Spanish territory of Ceuta in North Africa.

Only four of that number have changed their names. …Roberto Perdigones, an army corporal who registered as female in the last year, now earns more money and lives in superior accommodation. “On the outside I feel like a heterosexual man, but on the inside I am a lesbian…”

“For changing my gender, I have been told that my pension has gone up because women get more to compensate for inequality. I also get 15 per cent more salary for being a mother,” he said. …Under Spain’s transgender law, anyone can switch the gender entered on their ID card and passport by formally requesting the change, without any additional requirements… Sources told El Español that officers in the Civil Guard, the National Police and the Local Police in Ceuta were also changing their sexes for benefits.

Like any good libertarian, I support the right of adults to change their names, to dress how they want, and/or to surgically alter their genitalia.

Making any of those choices simply to get more goodies from the government, however, seems a bit strange.

My Take - These last two sentences is why Libertarians will never be a major force. They support things that will ultimately create the things they hate.  Libertarians remind me of Senator Everett Dirksen, who was credited with saying,  "A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking real money"?  His problem was he was a fiscal conservative and at the same time he was socially liberal.  What did he think was going to happen to spending when supporting liberal social schemes?  Less spending? 

The same principle applies here!  Does he think this will stop by them just living a life they choose?  While I think people have the right to live their lives as they wish, they don't  have the right to make me pay for those choices, or accommodate those choices, or accept the concept of those choices.  Have no doubt, that's where this all ends up.  A destabilizing force for society.  

Good Libertarians? Amazing! RK

But, as I’ve written before, incentives matter. For better or worse.

P.S. Here are some other bizarre moments in human rights.

• In Canada, there’s now a right to be an employed alcoholic.
• Across Europe, a satellite dish is now a human right.
• The Department of Housing and Urban Development asserts there is a right to “emotional support animals” in college dorms.
• In Finland, broadband access is a basic right.
• In France, it is against the law to say your husband is under-endowed or that your wife is fat.
• There’s now an entitlement for free soccer broadcasts in Europe.
• In Italy, you have the right to…um…your testicles.
• Both the United Nations and the Obama Administration think there’s a right to taxpayer-financed birth control.
• In the United States, the elderly have the right to taxpayer-financed sex-change operations.
• There’s even a right to a “special accommodation” if you’re a pee-shy worker in America.
• In Scotland, there’s now a human right to taxpayer-financed feminine protection products.