Saturday, January 28, 2012

Quote of the Day - legal vs. moral

A quote for you to ponder as I participate in family celebrations today. As today ends National School Choice Week, I'm going to do a round-up of various school choice articles I came across and will post it tomorrow.

"Can we assume that a thing is right if it is legal? But slavery was once legal; Nazism was legal. Well, can we assume a thing is right if it is endorsed by majority rule? But a lynch mob is majority rule. Is a thing sure to be right, then, if it comes about through the democratic process? But fascist dictator Juan PerĂ³n of Argentina was democratically elected by majority rule on two occasions. . . . Well, how about the Constitution? But again we run into difficulties, for the Constitution can be amended to say anything the society wishes it to say. Suppose, for example, the Constitution were amended to permit the lynching of blacks—would this practice become ethically correct merely because the Constitution permitted it? The moral basis of capitalism is the right of each individual to live his own life, for his own sake." ~ R.W. Grant

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