majorspark;1867380 wrote:An equal right to use them for their intended purpose. Transportation. Not laying down on them. No individual, group of them, or government has the right to take away a law abiding individual's right to use public roadways for their intended purpose. Drawing lines with respect to liberty this to me is an easy one.
Who decides the intended purpose? Likely the entity that built them, yes?
So, we get to the point we're at right now: Government decides.
gut;1867385 wrote:Ahh, so we've walked it back from violence to aggression?
Well, given that the NAP is a pretty central tenet to libertarian philosophy, minarchism, and any of the various anarchist ideologies, it certainly seems appropriate. Would you not agree?
gut;1867385 wrote:The community is the people.
Using the term to refer to a group of people is one thing. Granting that term rights or the ability to trump the individual is antithetical to the libertarian philosophy. You can hold that view, and that's fine, but it's not the view that a libertarian would hold.
gut;1867385 wrote:If I run you over with my car, am I infringing your right to a public space or exercising my right to that same public space?
You don't have a right to remove someone already occupying a public space against their will in order for you to occupy it. Your right to the space, like mine, doesn't give you the the right to use force against an individual's person or property.
However, I am not necessarily advocating for the right to protest specifically by intentionally blocking roadways. Doing so denies motorists the right to the public property on the other side of said protesters, to which they have as much right as the protesters themselves, so rest assured, I'm not just giving carte blanch to such protests. It still doesn't warrant a permit to be required for assembly or free speech, though, unless the First Amendment shouldn't include those things as rights.
gut;1867385 wrote:Or, perhaps as a community, do the people agree to regulate use so as to avoid anarchy?
The "people" don't regulate. Only something with the ability to enforce regulation can regulate.
Inasmuch as you do this, the "community" (which, if we're talking the creation of laws, is equitable to governance) trumps the individual simply because the community says they do. If that's a person's view, that's fine, but it is, again, antithetical to libertarianism.
gut;1867385 wrote:Everyone has the same and equal right to a public road, subject to the uses and laws of that road - jaywalking, protesting, blocking traffic or whatever is not one of those uses. You can't pick and choose certain property rights over others - if you're going to recognize personal property rights and regulations, you have to recognize the same in communal property. A handful of places you can't assemble without a permit in no way silences anyone.
I'm sorry, but the pure libertarian philosophy that two random individuals will mutually agree to public use in a way that is mutually beneficial is a pipe dream. Without fair use standards you have anarchy. Fair use standards are simply codifying that Libertardian utopia where you and I mutually and instantly agree not to infringe on either's rights. You're arguing the jay walker has a right to sunbath in the middle of the street - that's not even a rational debate.
The notion that fair use standards are a defense against anarchism is a slippery slope fallacy. The maintenance of governing abilities to handle circumstances in which one individual uses force to infringe on another's person or property can certainly be maintained without some local democratic determination of how public land "ought" to be used.
And I'm not saying that two people are going to shake hands and make it work. However, I'd wager that it'd happen more often than you seem to think it would. Consider sidewalks. There are no laws designating who has priority on the sidewalk in many places, and yet, we also don't see chaos or unchecked anarchy. People just tend to excuse themselves and get by. Either one person goes around or another moves. There aren't laws requiring this or stipulating guidelines on handling these situations. People do, in fact, just work them out more than 99% of the time.
What I'm saying that the right of a protester to protest in the street exists, but it doesn't give them the right to withhold access of public property from others. If a car comes and wishes to get through, protesters don't have the authority over the motorist such that they have the right to deny the motorist access. That doesn't mean that they don't have the right to the land themselves, though.
I am indeed arguing that someone has the right to be an idiot and do something irrational. I'm also arguing that people have a right to respond, either by taking a different road or by doling out a little public shame, which is undervalued. If someone wants to play Frogger while sunbathing, great. He's an idiot. Doesn't mean he doesn't have as much a right to the road as anyone else, and it doesn't mean he has more a right to the road as anyone else.
gut;1867385 wrote:Presumably, you prefer your right not to be run over to take priority over your right to camp in the middle of the street. So let's not pretend that traffic laws (at least some) infringe, rather than preserve, your rights.
Personally? Yes. The notion of getting run over doesn't appeal to me. I think that's a fairly safe assumption for most people.
However, let's not pretend that traffic laws functionally do that much to keep people safe, either.
Is it REALLY saving lives when I sit at the red light with no cars coming in any other direction?
Is it really so necessary to find a crosswalk when there is abundant clearance in all directions?
I wonder how many lives I'm saving by going the speed limit and not getting into accidents, and whether or not it's more than if I were speeding and not getting into accidents.
And when I was a kid, playing home run derby in the street, I had no idea that my mere presence standing on the road (but, of course, moving for all five cars that came by that day) was so problematic to people's rights.