Ancaps often declare, "All rights are property rights." I was thinking about this the other day, in the context of running into libertarians online who insisted that libertarianism supports "the freedom of movement," and realized that this principle actually entails that people without property have no rights at all, let alone any right to "freedom of movement." Of course, immediately, any ancap readers still left here are going to say, "Wait a second! Everyone owns his own body! And so everyone at least has the right to not have his body interfered with." Well, that is true... except that in ancapistan, one has no right to any place to put that body, except if one owns property, or has the permission of at least one property owner to place that body on her land. So, if one is landless and penniless, one had sure better hope that there are kindly disposed property owners aligned in a corridor from wherever one happens to be to wherever the...
I will be honest, I ride a bike and disregard traffic laws. Then again, I do the same in a car. However, I do so within reason. I never go the wrong way, I never cross an intersection on red unless it is clear for at least one block, and I always give cars the right of way (something I don't have to do). There is something that I do that really pisses off people in cars: I take the lane when I ride.
ReplyDeleteThen again, downtown Cleveland is quite a bit different that NYC.
ReplyDeleteOh, and I don't think that it is just bicyclists in NY that don't follow traffic laws, it is the majority of them in any city.
ReplyDeleteYou have never been to Amsterdam, then, Joe?
DeleteBah! Europeans are sissies. (I'm kidding, of course).
DeleteNope, never been. I would like to go, but not for biking.
It is true that most bicyclists disregard a great deal of the traffic statutes, it's just too easy to do on a bike. I did get hit by a car a few weeks ago, but I was actually following the law to a T (it was kind of a crazy intersection). Maybe it's karma. Who knows?