23:04 < pupnik> You live in the USA? 23:04 < zapster> yes 23:04 < zapster> they have a constitution that works--ours obviously doesn't or we wouldn't be a kleptocracy now 23:04 < pupnik> Are you arguing that the US government is constitutional? 23:05 < zapster> heh..according to the constitution we have, yeah 23:06 < zapster> they just lopped off most of the bill of rights 23:06 < zapster> which was added by the people, not business of course 23:06 < zapster> so it had to go 23:07 < pupnik> You are incorrect, the US has been drifting from constitutional legitimacy since the ink was dry. 23:08 < pupnik> I do agree that recent injuries to the bill of rights are criminal though 23:08 < zapster> part of the problem is that it's continually presented as "inviolable"--and venezuela keeps rewriting theirs until they get it right 23:08 < pupnik> But that has more to do with the exigencies of an empire and a tyrannical government, than the desires of capitalists. 23:08 < zapster> there's a lot to be said for that 23:09 < pupnik> From the social-democratic ideology yes, not from an ideology of freedom and natural rights. 23:09 < zapster> there aren't any natural rights 23:09 < pupnik> In the latter, there are tenets which may not be violated by democratic vote. 23:10 < zapster> only the ones you wrest from the powerful 23:10 < pupnik> I agree that those rights must be vigorously defended, but according to logic, there are rights inherent in conscious being. 23:11 < zapster> the powerful disagree 23:11 < zapster> so they're not inherent, evidently 23:12 < pupnik> People are born with eyes. If someone gouges out your eye, that doesn't change the fact that you are born with eyes. 23:13 < pupnik> i find this idea that rights are granted by government to be dangerous and ill concieved 23:14 < zapster> if you are outnumbered by people that don't believe you have rights, you are a slave 23:14 -!- MILOSEVIC is now known as jumpatrain 23:14 < pupnik> A slave whose rights are being denied. 23:14 < zapster> denied, nonexistent--functionally there is no difference 23:14 < pupnik> Your argument leads to the conclusion that slaves not only can not exercise their rights, but they do not have any. 23:15 < zapster> you can believe whatever you want, but it's no more than fantasy 23:15 < pupnik> And if you do not have any rights that are being denied, there's no reason to restore anything that isn't yours to begin with. 23:15 < zapster> if slaves cannot fight off slavery their rights don't exist 23:15 < pupnik> Ah so my rights are determined by what I can take by force? 23:15 < zapster> and if no one else will defend their rights 23:16 < pupnik> So if i rape the next little boy that passes by, that's my right? 23:16 < zapster> not if someone locks you up for it 23:16 < zapster> which is why we set up governments 23:16 < pupnik> You see how your philosophy is cancerous 23:16 < zapster> no..it's realist 23:16 < pupnik> Say i could get away with it, then it becomes my right. 23:16 < zapster> simply look at history 23:16 < pupnik> Your definition of rights is meaningless. 23:16 < zapster> look at somalia 23:16 < pupnik> It voids the word. 23:17 < zapster> women have no rights against rape there because they cannot defend against it 23:17 < zapster> and nobody is doing a damn thing about it 23:17 < pupnik> Ok it's a semantic discussion. I find your choice of definition to be useless. 23:17 < zapster> they're so-called "natural" rights do not exist there 23:19 < pupnik> Further discussion would involve repetition of points you have not grasped. 23:19 < pupnik> Have a nice day.