Right v. Privilege

Stephen Moore of the Wall Street Journal editorial board has a piece called The Nanny-State Diaries up. In it he discusses a recent trip to Colorado (where he attended the Independence Institute’s fifth annual “Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms” party) and some rather amazing comments made by presidential hopeful John Edwards.

The buzzword on the left nowadays is “tolerance” for those with different lifestyles — like cross-dressers — but almost everything that these folks want to do, liberals won’t tolerate. One smoker lamented that if “gays were discriminated against today the way smokers are, there would be an uproar.” Gun owners have reason to be fearful too. In a recent blog interview on Moveon.org, John Edwards of North Carolina proclaimed that health care, child care, a livable wage and a clean environment are “rights,” but owning a gun is a “privilege.” The men and women who gathered in Kiowa would like to send him a copy of the Constitution.

I assume, without any poll data, that Edwards’ thoughts on guns are widespread among the left. At first I was – for some strange reason – skeptical that a presidential candidate would actually forward something so ludicrous. The man is a lawyer, after all. But he did. Too bad I missed this originally. Here’s the relevant part of the q & a transcript on right v. privilege.

Question: A college education?

Edwards: Right.

Q: Health care?

E: Right.

Q: A livable wage?

E: Right.

Q: Owning a handgun?

E: Privilege.

…

Q: Access to the Internet?

E: That should be a right.

So the one right Edwards was asked about that is actually guaranteed to us by the Bill of Rights he calls a privilege. But internet access “should be a right”?

They forgot to ask Edwards about food and video-game access. Rights, I’m sure.

Man, these guys are in trouble.