Right To Privacy

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The Right To Privacy

In recent years, Americans have referred to privacy as one of
the basic human rights, something to be claimed by anyone, anywhere.
United States citizens feel strongly about this and often tell other
countries that they must honor their people's claims to privacy and
personal freedom. Foreign leaders often disagree. They resent what
they deem arrogant meddling by the United States. Leaders of the
Soviet Union, for example, regard individual privacy as trivial when
compared to the needs of the state. If the United States is to be
persuasive in promoting freedom in other parts of the world, it must
respect the privacy of its own citizens. Sometimes it is hard to do
this because what goes on in people's private lives may seem
offensive. But, according to U.S. traditions, there is a strong case
to be made against legislating the private behavior of adults, so long
as that behavior does not in turn violate the rights of others. Some
people feel that this reasoning should hold also for marijuana. A
person who smokes at home is not doing injury. The marijuana user is
indulging in a minor pleasure over which that government should have
no jurisdiction. It is quite clear from survey data that most people
do not become physically dependent on marijuana. The majority use it
as others use alcohol - to relax occasionally and to indulge a festive
mood. How can a mild intoxicant, taken less than once a day by most
users, be seen as a public threat? Even those who are "hooked", or
psychologically dependent upon their habit, should not be penalized by
the law. Some people find any compulsive and unproductive behavior
disgusting. But that is not a reason for outlawing it. Consider
eating, many people develop compulsive habits about food. They talk
about it frequently. They spend many of their waking hours
anticipating, planning, obtaining, and consuming food. This may ...