Is “burning things” a natural right?
posted at 12:37 pm on December 2, 2009 by Steven Den Beste
[ Enviro-nitwits ]
I’m no constitutional lawyer, but I’ve heard that there are things that constitutional lawyers call “natural rights”. The classic ones, enumerated in the US Declaration of Independence are “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”.
It’s generally accepted that campfires are one of the earliest inventions of the human race, dating back to the time of stone tools. It happened early enough so that it has affected our evolution. It made grain the staple of our diet, because we can’t absorb much nutrition from raw grain. And fire helped us to reduce metal from ores, one of the great technological advances in human history.
Sometime like that which is so ancient, and so omnipresent all over the world is, I would argue, a natural right. And it should be given as much constitutional protection as any other right.
Blowback
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the ACLU will defend burning things as a natural right, as long as you are burning our flag or anything christian.
homesickamerican on December 2, 2009 at 12:49 PM
Good point. If I have a constitutional right to burn our flag, then why don’t I have a constitutional right to burn coal?
Steven Den Beste on December 2, 2009 at 12:56 PM
I like your thinking, but no, burning things isn’t a natural right.
Abby Adams on December 2, 2009 at 1:08 PM
Re: “I like your thinking, but no, burning things isn’t a natural right. Abby Adams”
Actually Abby, think about it this way. If you were stuck on a deserted island, what would you need to survive. Those are your natural rights.
The right to gather food, the right to prepare that food for consumption, the right to gather water, the right to gather materials for clothes, the right to gather materials for shelter. We are given the rights by our creator so that we can have life, protect our liberty and strive for our happiness. Thus it is every human beings right to be able to provide for one’s self and one’s family.
astonerii on December 2, 2009 at 1:16 PM
You pose a very interesting question…
Now I’m going to have to think about that all week since it seems like it should be since it’s such a primal activity, but at the same time, primitive cultures aren’t what we necessarily want to emulate.
Being a lover of controlled fires, I’m sure that I’ll probably end up on your side of the question, but I’m not sure.
Thanks for the interesting question!
Canucker on December 2, 2009 at 1:43 PM
Excellent point, and it provokes a question. If I’m busily burning effigies of some of my least fave Congressional thieves, am I guilty of carbon violations, hate speech or endangering natural rights (assuming my actions produce a stifling government response to everyone’s natural right to burn stuff)? Am I headed to prison, or just civic ignominy?
MTF on December 2, 2009 at 1:47 PM
I think every “right” should be evaluated not based on its age but based on accumulated wisdom about whether it makes life better. Nor am I a libertarian who thinks all rights are equally good. There are important, natural rights like the freedom of speech and the freedom to defend your life and property, and there are stupid rights like the right to smoke dope, and we don’t have to pretend that they are all worthy of protection.
Is “burning things” a good or important right? I can’t see why it would be. Certainly government (local government) has a right to pass laws to protect the common environment from pollution (not carbon dioxide but I mean real pollution), or to prevent fire hazards in densely populated areas or near national forests in the dry season. A law that limits the use of fire for environmental or public safety reasons is reasonable.
joe_doufu on December 2, 2009 at 2:32 PM
I feel strongly that there should be a “right” of mobility. The great marvel of the last century, the automobile, would surely have had constitutional rights associated with it had it been conceived a century earlier.
I would even consider naming a religion after “the Car”.
trl on December 2, 2009 at 4:31 PM
Provided you’re a communist megalomaniac recently elected President of the former most-prosperous nation on Earth and the thing that you wish to burn is The United States Constitution, … then the answer is YES.
Eyas on December 2, 2009 at 9:25 PM
I would like to think that my ability to create fire is pretty much up there with the opposable thumb and my ability to do cave drawings… I’m certain it predates congress… or ANY attempt to do away with it.
Hey, congress, look it’s a learned skill. I can do tricks with my thumb, and with my cave drawing, but most importantly, I can do tricks with fire!
Am I being fairly clear here, or do I have to do a drawing for you?
docjohn52 on December 2, 2009 at 11:14 PM
No, that’s a bad, bad interpretation of natural rights.
Abby Adams on December 3, 2009 at 10:01 AM
Abby Adams…
Should finish an argument.
astonerii on December 3, 2009 at 1:30 PM
Okay, here’s why that is a bad, bad interpretation of “natural rights.” What is something I need to survive? How about food? Did the God of Nature really give you a right to gather food? What if someone else owns all of the food? Do you have a right to just take it? I mean, it’s your natural right to gather food, no?
What about health care. Say I crash on an island just me and a doctor, and get a compund fracture of my arm. If I don’t get medical help, I’ll die from septicemia. Do I have the natural right to force the doctor to give me treatment? I mean, it’s needed to survive, no?
And what if the deserted island has no fresh water? I need it to survive. 3 days later, an indigenous tribesman passes by on a canoe carrying a jug of water. Do I have the natural right to any of that water?
The things you need to survive on a deserted island do not necessarily qualify as things you have “natural rights” to. Natural rights are the rights inherent in everyone that do not matter where or who you are. They are endowed by our creator, the God of Nature, by the virtue of being human.
Abby Adams on December 3, 2009 at 5:40 PM