爱泼斯坦关于责任尊严的评论.doc

Copyright (c) 2011 Arizona State Law JournalArizona State Law Journal Winter, 2011 Arizona State Law Journal 43 Ariz. St. L.J. 1169 LENGTH: 3373 wordsTHIRD ANNUAL EDWARD J. SHOEN LEADING SCHOLARS SYMPOSIUM: JEREMY WALDRON: The Breakdown of the Social Democratic State: Taking a Fresh Look at Waldrons Dignity, Rights, and ResponsibilitiesNAME: Richard A. Epstein*BIO: * Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law, New York University School of Law; the Peter and Kirsten Bedford Senior Fellow, The Hoover Institution, and the James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor and senior lecturer, The University of Chicago.LEXISNEXIS SUMMARY:... The same story has played out in Greece, Spain, and Italy; not to mention the United States, where social democratic institutions have not been able to bring their expenditures and revenues in line. ... To see why this is the case, start with Waldrons sound observation that rights and responsibilities are often correlative, such that there cannot be the creation of a new right unless and until the correlative duties are specified. ... The first of these responsibilities means that all persons should work hard to obtain a degree of self-sufficiency so that they do not become a burden on others. ... To implement this type of a program, we need to revert to the system of perfect and imperfect obligations that were part and parcel of the classical liberal tradition that gave birth to, among other oft-disfavored social arrangements, laissez-faire. ... People will often cite to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which proclaims recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world. ... The first is that if we reduce the welfare component and remove the obstacles to the formation of new contracts, we reduce that number of individuals to a small fraction of what it is today. ... It is to understand that our cur