Rational Ignorance?

On the front page of today's Spectator we find an article titled, "You have the right to be ignorant of your rights." Apparently half of all Canadians can't name any of the rights that are supposedly guaranteed by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Well, as Ayn Rand once said, "Why examine a folly? Just ask yourself what it accomplishes." In the case of the Canadian Charter of Rights and freedoms the answer to that question is "very little" depending on how seriously you take your rights and freedoms.

So another way of interpreting the poll cited in that article would be to say that one-half of all Canadians are smart enough not to bother wasting time familiarizing themselves with irrelevant fiction. Accused by some as being an individual with too much time on my hands I will go ahead and examine this folly.

Let's start out with the first worthless declaration:

1 - The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.

Can there be any doubt this wet noodle guarantee was written by Canadian politicians? The first thing they do in this sacred document is give themselves a loophole. Notwithstanding the fact this charter diminishes rights not enumerated therein even the chintzy few they choose to include are subject to "reasonable limits" prescribed by law (I.E. voted into law by the sleazy, lying bastards who manage to finagle their way into elected office so they can auction off the rights and freedoms of their constituents to the highest political bidder or the noisiest group of special interest whiners.)

The Spec article quotes Jacques Fremont, dean of law faculty at the University of Montreal, "It's worrisome, really worrisome." Ooh yeah. It's really fucking worrisome. Half of all Canadians are not aware of a bunch of useless guarantees written by a bunch con artists (inferiors to used car dealers) and this guy starts biting his nails. What the fuck is with this guy?

My advice to anyone who asks is this:

Life is complicated these days. Time is a limited resource. It must be allocated amongst a range of competing priorities. Don't waste it reading a bunch of useless crap written by politicians. Want to know what your rights are? Just keep doing whatever you are doing. An added bonus will also appear. You will most definitely discover what your rights aren't.

What Your Right's Aren't

You work hard. You have goals. You have dreams. You buy a car, a stereo, investments for your future..... a home. You spend a major part of your life acquiring these things I.E. property. You spend a major part of your life in pursuit of property yet the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms doesn't even mention property.

7. Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of the person and the right not to be deprived thereof except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice.

If you are thinking you can rely upon the courts to come to the rescue think again. Consider the matter of David Bryan:

Breitkreuz told the House of Commons, "For violating the Canadian Wheat Board's soviet-style decree, Mr. Bryan spent a week in jail, was fined $9,000 and received a 2-year suspended sentence. Mr. Bryan, with the help of the National Citizen's Coalition, appealed his conviction on the grounds that it violated his property rights as guaranteed in the Canadian Bill of Rights, passed by this Parliament in 1960. On February 4th, 1999 the Manitoba Court of Appeal ruled against David Bryan's right to sell his own grain that he grew on his own land. Page 14 of the ruling the Manitoba Court of Appeal stated, "Section 1(a) of the Canadian Bill of Rights, which protects property rights through a 'due process' clause, was not replicated in the Charter, and the right to 'enjoyment of property' is not a constitutionally protected, fundamental part of Canadian society."

source

The right to 'enjoyment of property' is not a constitutionally protected, fundamental part of Canadian society. Of course not! It should be obvious that a "fundamental part of Canadian society" is the right to the enjoyment of someone else's property. You can't have it both ways. And those sleazy, phony do-gooder politicians know this full well.

H.L. Mencken said elections are nothing but an advance auction in stolen goods. A serious right to property provision in the Canadian constitution would effectively put most politicians out of business. If they weren't running around screwing Peter to pay Paul while hiding from Paul the screwing he's getting to pay Gertrude who's been getting screwed by Peter all along how in hell would they occupy their time? The resultant epidemic in PTD's (Politically Transmitted Diseases) serves only to enhance the power of the trollop trading politicians who continue to devise new 'cures' for the virus^* which constitutes their very stock in trade.

^*An infection of the mind brought on by observation that it requires less effort to grab that which someone else has earned than it does to earn it for one's self. The welfare state is a war of all against all.

The right to property is one of the cornerstones of human freedom. Without the right to property no other rights are meaningful. Without the right to property everyone of us remains vulnerable to attack by the predators who populate the non-producing sectors of our society... I.E. politicians, bureaucrats, "anti-poverty activists", civil servants, organized labour and welfare recipients including individuals, corporations and others such as ACTRA, an organization involved in lobbying the government for sleazy laws and quotas designed to sucker Canadians into lining the pockets of ACTRA members. Culture Tax anyone?

Considering the Charter contains no protection for the blood, sweat and tears people spend building their dreams why is ignorance of it "worrisome?"

You work hard. You have goals. You have dreams. You dream of owning your own business. You dream of independence, pride of accomplishment, an annual vacation and a comfortable retirement. You pour your savings and your blood sweat and tears into your bar and restaraunt. Where is the Charter of Rights and Freedoms when Marvin Caplan with the support of a bunch of soclialist public health activists and an anonymous collective capable of marking an "X" on a ballot blatantly violate your property rights, your freedom of peaceful assembly (in this case, specifically smokers) and your freedom of association driving your business and your dreams into oblivion?

Worrisome? Yes, there's some worrisome shit going on but ignorance of the charter ain't it.

Wake up Canada! You have no rights. You have no freedom. All you have is whatever is left over after the last session of the legislature, I.E. residual freedom. Residual freedom consists of the things you still have the freedom to do until the assholes in power discover some pretext for imposing "reasonable limits" upon them.

last modified:Wednesday,March 19, 2008 at 04:40