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Equivocation Again

by Chris Alexion, Copyright November 26, 2005, all rights reserved. 204 views

"The right to live and breathe in a healthy, smoke-free environment is not a partisan issue. Republicans do not relish dying of lung cancer anymore than Democrats do. It is a People vs. Big Business issue. … Will [Delaware legislators] recognize the right to work in a smoke-free environment or perpetuate the 'inhospitable' industry? Will they vote to protect health or promote premature death?"

–Anna White, "Inside Dirt On Big Tobacco" Delaware News Journal, March 31, 2002

The author uses the term "right" in two different senses. Of course we have a "right" to live and breathe in a healthy, smoke-free environment. But such a right, as I argue here, works hand in with private property. White is using the term "right" to mean, first, a right to non-interference, and later as a right to interfere with the property of others.

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