On Fri, 19 Dec 2003 Freematt357@aol.com wrote:
In a nutshell, our Constitution *recognizes* universal human rights. It does not *establish* these rights. If we are going to be faithful to this premise, physical location is a non-sequitor.
This is a valid and probably commendable political position. I do not believe, however, that it reflects current practice in the USA or elsewhere.
I say "probably" because it seems likely that adopting this as a practice would have very high costs. ... And why would you think that American judicial morality and justice should be dependent on cost? After all it would be cheaper for the cops on a traffic stop to administratively just shoot you in the head for an offense then go through the costs and rigors of a trial.
The personal cost for the police concerned would be very high: those who weren't really good at running away would be shot dead. The cost for those hiring the police would be astronomical: wages would have to rise to reflect the danger. The cost for politicians mandating such a policy would be equally high: they would be out of office and facing criminal charges themselves. If the US tried to export its notion of rights, the global reaction would be similar. In either case you could not put a cost on the ensuing chaos. The US has global hegemony because in reality its policies are reasonable, because it isn't worth anyone's while to try to oppose it. If Saddam had been less of an idiot, if he had left Kuwait alone, he would be relaxing in one of his palaces today and his sons would be out snatching women off the street, torturing people who had annoyed them -- you know, having a good night out. China would like to have more power in its region, but the cost of really pushing for this is much higher than any conceivable gain, and anyway they can provoke the US a great deal with no particular reaction. So the political elite concentrates on increasing the production of Barby dolls and stacking up hundred dollar bills. European calculations are the same: the potential cost of challenging the US is incalculable, the potential gain relatively miniscule. Come on, let's go down to the pub instead. -- Jim Dixon jdd@dixons.org tel +44 117 982 0786 mobile +44 797 373 7881 http://jxcl.sourceforge.net Java unit test coverage http://xlattice.sourceforge.net p2p communications infrastructure