This I Believe

I believe in reason, and reasoned compromise.

I believe in rights. I believe in the right to life, liberty, happiness and free speech. I believe in the right to assemble, to worship freely, in property rights and the right to eat Jello.

I also believe none of these rights is absolute. They cannot be. The world is too crowded. In principle, “your right to swing you fist ends at the tip of my nose.” In a world of seven billion people, noses are everywhere.

It is not just noses that are at risk. Everything I do, or fail to do, affects other people. Every time I exercise one of my rights, it impacts the rights of others. I have a right to talk with friends, you have a right to quiet contemplation, and we both have a right to share the park — but those rights conflict.

Civilization is not based just on rights, but on reasoned compromises of conflicts between those rights. People have rights to travel and to own cars — in short, a right to drive. Other people also have a right to drive, and not to be run down. Civilization has defined reasonable compromises of these conflicting rights: the result is that you can drive on streets, not sidewalks. Other compromises require driver’s licenses, mufflers, turn signals, stop signs, and so on. You may not be happy with all these compromises — but if you have ever driven in areas where no one obeys any traffic rules, you know that is worse.

Societies make similar compromises everywhere, on everything. Even the right to life is not absolute. Society balances that right against many other rights: for pay health care balances the right to life against other peoples’ property rights. Individuals make similar choices: going sky-diving, for example, balances the individual’s right to life against their right to pursue happiness.

Rights conflict. No right can be absolute. The only way to balance conflicting rights is find a compromise — hopefully a reasonable compromise. A reasonable compromise preserves as much of the rights of all involved as possible. That is, after all, the basis of morality.

The only way to reach a reasonable compromise is to reason it out — to discuss and debate the relative advantages and disadvantages, and strike a balance. Rational discussion begins with careful examination of the facts and issues involved, then finding a fair and reasoned balance.

I believe that beliefs are dangerous. Perhaps more dangerous than anything else on the planet.

Beliefs are defined as positions held despite the absence of evidence, or in spite of the evidence. To often, people believe in absolutes. They cannot negotiate when it involves their beliefs. These people believe that compromises, when their beliefs are involved, are immoral.

Civilization is, at it’s base, the process of negotiating compromises when rights are in conflict. Absolute beliefs are antithetical to such compromises. Absolute beliefs are antithetical to civilization.

I believe in the danger of beliefs. I believe in reason.