| October 11, 1978 | | | | "As Robert Goldwin recently emphasized, we |
| If only we will back off a little more on our | | | | seem to have forgotten that our own broad |
| demands that Russia live up to the Helsinki | | | | definition of civil rights is rooted in our political and |
| agreement on human rights, a strategic arms | | | | economic structure - in federalism, the separation |
| limitation treaty can be signed any day now. | | | | of powers, judicial review and the diffusion of |
| Secretary of State Cyrus Vance has given away | | | | property in a private sector. In short, our civil |
| the B-1 bomber, cruise missile, neutron war head | | | | rights derive from the theory and practice of |
| and nuclear carrier. Now that all U.S. weapons | | | | limited government. |
| advantages have been abandoned, the principle | | | | "Our political leaders, when they come to praise |
| broadly defined as human rights is under final | | | | civil rights in one world forum or another, do not |
| attack. | | | | argue in favor of limited government - perhaps |
| In the end we can expect that the noble | | | | because they no longer really believe in it. They |
| precepts of human rights will be accorded short | | | | always talk as if their mission is to persuade |
| shrift. | | | | authoritarian or totalitarian governments to make |
| Perhaps our retreat from principle is inevitable. | | | | a gift of civil rights to their people. |
| Human rights is, after all, a campaign catch-word | | | | "POLITICAL RIGHTS are those to participate, in |
| that greatly complicates the real world of power | | | | one degree or another, in government. |
| politics if taken seriously. | | | | One-person-one-vote is indeed a constitutional |
| Other nations, friends and foes, had difficulty | | | | principle by which a people may govern itself. But |
| figuring out what we meant by human rights. Not | | | | it is not the sole such principle. Only a dogmatist |
| until President Jimmy Carter defined the term | | | | would insist that it is, everywhere and always, the |
| more precisely - in private - and turned down the | | | | best principle. Even the United States, after all, for |
| volume did our international relations smooth out. | | | | most of its history has not been governed by this |
| The trouble was - and still remains for the | | | | principle. |
| American public - that "human rights" has too | | | | "The proper extent of political rights in any nation |
| many meanings. Each hearer interprets the | | | | is not something our State Department can have |
| concept to suit his own convictions. | | | | a meaningful opinion about. It can only be |
| Irving Kristol, professor of urban values at New | | | | determined by the people of that nation, who will |
| York University, summarized the problem some | | | | draw on their own political and cultural |
| time ago in a guest analysis for the Wall Street | | | | backgrounds in arriving at a suitable disposition of |
| Journal. | | | | this matter. |
| "Human rights really includes four very different | | | | "We can try to set them a good example by |
| political ideas," said Kristol. | | | | making our democratic republic as admirable as |
| "HUMAN RIGHTS PROPER is the least political of | | | | possible - as our Founding Fathers urged. But |
| the four meanings, since it applies equally to all | | | | that's about all we can do - as our Founding |
| governments, regardless of their political structure. | | | | Fathers recognized. |
| It refers to those practices of government which, | | | | "SOCIO-ECONOMIC RIGHTS were inscribed in the |
| in the perspective of our Judaeo-Christian | | | | United Nations Charter, and the United States, in |
| civilization, can flatly be called abominations, that is, | | | | its folly, has duly subscribed to the principle behind |
| where questions of degree are irrelevant. | | | | them. The principle is that a welfare state is |
| Genocide, whether on a large scale or small, is | | | | always and everywhere better than a |
| such an abomination. So is torture. And so are | | | | non-welfare state; that the more comprehensive |
| restrictions on the right to emigrate. | | | | a welfare state, the better; and that the right to |
| "Though the U.S. since World War II has been | | | | a broad range of government services is |
| properly outspoken on the issue of genocide and | | | | absolute, whether the nation can afford them or |
| torture, it has avoided making any fuss about the | | | | not, and whether the people want them or not. |
| right to emigrate. The reason, to put it bluntly, | | | | "A particular and debatable version of |
| was fear of offending the Soviet and other | | | | 20th-Century liberalism is suddenly presented to |
| Communists governments. The Carter | | | | us as a universal 'human right.' Since, at this late |
| administration seems willing to continue this | | | | date, it might be difficult to repudiate this absurd |
| particular policy of 'moral detente.' | | | | principle out right, we ought to ignore it as much |
| "CIVIL RIGHTS are those of an individual with his | | | | as possible." |
| government, and are summed up in the phrase, | | | | Failure to recognize the several interpretations |
| 'the rule of law,' to which even government is | | | | possible of his campaign slogan has unnecessarily |
| subject. | | | | entangled President Carter in semantics. He |
| "It is important to emphasize, since we Americans | | | | frequently finds himself in the embarrassing |
| have so parochial and impoverished a sense of | | | | position of lecturing our allies and looking the other |
| history, that such civil rights can exist even in | | | | way when our enemies commit worse violations. |
| non-liberal or nondemocratic societies. Neither | | | | Now we are on the horns of a dilemma -one |
| Henry VIII nor Tsar Nicholas I ever presumed to | | | | labeled SALT treaty and the other human rights. |
| think he had the kind of arbitrary power which | | | | To get one we must bury the other. |
| many member governments of the United | | | | And it really doesn't make much difference which. |
| Nations exercise today as a matter of course. | | | | |