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“Sir, I agree to this Constitution, with all its Faults, if they are such; because I think a General Government necessary for us, and there is no Form of Government but what may be a Blessing to the People if well administered; and I believe farther that this is likely to be well administered for a Course of Years, and can only end in Despotism as other Forms have done before it, when the People shall become so corrupted as to need Despotic Government, being incapable of any other.”     Benjamin Franklin,    Final Speech at the Constitutional Convention

March 10, 2010

Quote Of The Day

by Brad Warbiany

Economist Donald Marron:

I often tell my students that, in my humble opinion, one purpose of government is to help people be happy. The DC government did a good job on Wednesday.

I disagree with that on so many levels. The government’s job is to secure people’s rights, and as Thomas Jefferson so eloquently said, one of those inalienable rights is the pursuit of happiness. But we cannot move from a government built to secure negative rights to one built to fulfill positive rights just by wishing it so.

But this is one of those special cases where the government got it right. The government, through bigoted discrimination, was actively denying some citizens of their right to pursue happiness as they see fit. In this case, they did help people be happy, by getting out of the way.

Hat Tip: Ezra Klein

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Permalink || Comments (1) || Categories: Civil Liberties,Equal Protection,Individual Rights,Quote of the Day
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1 Comment

  1. Helping people secure their rights and resolve disputes doesn’t count as helping people be happy?

    Comment by Joshua Holmes — March 10, 2010 @ 7:31 pm

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