I’d like to test out the new comment system I’ve implemented in a hopefully fun way. I’m going to ask what I think is an interesting and somewhat ridiculous hypothetical question.

If you had to pick between living in a land where you only had negative rights and a land where you only had positive rights, which one would you live in? Here are a few examples of each from Wikipedia’s page on negative and positive rights.

Rights considered negative rights may include civil and political rights such as freedom of speech, private property, freedom from violent crime, freedom of worship, habeas corpus, a fair trial, freedom from slavery and the right to bear arms.

Rights considered positive rights may include other civil and political rights such as police protection of person and property and the right to counsel, as well as economic, social and cultural rights such as public education, health care, social security, and a minimum standard of living.

So, after weighing what you’d be keeping and what you’d be giving up, where would you want to go? Does your answer change depending on whether you’re single or have a family? Is there a particular right that would determine your decision?

Please respond by commenting, and also, please respond to one another. You should be able to use OpenIDs (you might have one already and not even know it) and Gravatars. You can also post pictures now in your comments, but I may disable this in the future because of the potential for making people violently throw up. Thanks!

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