more on this theme | more from this text
Full Idea
When a government of any sort puts a threatening hand on that part of individual life beyond its proper scope, …even if it were the whole nation, except for the man it is harassing, it would be no more legitimate for that.
Gist of Idea
No government, or the whole nation, can control an individual beyond legitimate scope
Source
Ian Dunt (How to be a Liberal [2020]), quoted by Ian Dunt - How to be a Liberal 4
Book Ref
Dunt,Ian: 'How to Be a Liberal' [Canbury Press 2020], p.127
A Reaction
The obvious question is what counts as 'proper scope' - and who gets to define it? If the individual can define that, then criminals can appeal to this principle. The state must be persuaded of it, then asked to stick to it during conflicts.
| 22596 | No government, or the whole nation, can control an individual beyond legitimate scope [Dunt] |
| 22592 | Nationalism pretends that we can only have a single identity [Dunt] |
| 22594 | In 1794 France all individual and legal rights were suppressed by the general will [Dunt] |
| 22602 | Over several centuries a set of eight main liberal values was established [Dunt] |
| 22603 | Laissez-faire liberalism failed to give people the protections and freedoms needed for a good life [Dunt] |