Leaders and representatives of social groups met with Presidential Office Secretary-General Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) recently to lobby for social rights in the Constitution. These people hope the new Constitution will guarantee rights such as the right to shelter, health care, education, employment and pensions.
These groups are lobbying for a socialist government. They want to model Taiwan after some western European nations. But that would be a step back for Taiwan's hard-earned and maturing democracy.
The historic US Declaration of Independence contains text which resonates with freedom-loving people everywhere: we are all "endowed ... with certain unalienable rights" and "among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Those three things are the essence of a free society. We have the right to live. The government should not dictate where or when I die. (I don't have to worry every morning I wake up about being shot by police.) We have the right to be free. The government should not prohibit freedom of speech, the press and assembly. (I don't have to be afraid if I criticize the president in front of the presidential office.) And we have the right to pursue happiness. The government should not define happiness for me within the limits of law. (If spending money to buy a half-million-dollar TV makes me happy, the government cannot tell me to spend the money elsewhere.)
If we depend on the government for such things as shelter, health care, employment and education, then it is the government who can take all that away. A truly democratic and capitalist society, as Taiwan is quickly becoming, will have the means to sustain itself and its people, providing opportunities to those who desire them and are willing to work for them.
Just compare the Taiwan of 1960 to the Taiwan of 2004. Do you see how far we've come? Shelter, health care, employment, and education are really not "rights." They are privileges earned by participating in democracy and capitalism.
Think about what these social groups are advocating: the government will tell you where to live, when to see a doctor, how to work and what to learn.
Do you see the dire consequences now?
Social groups are founded with great purposes, such as helping the less fortunate and needy. It's a wonderful thing that Taiwan has so many groups formed with the agenda to shape a better, more tolerant society.
However, the Constitution need not include their agendas as "rights." Their efforts should remain in the private sector with assistance from the government if required -- but not to convert Taiwan into a socialist society.
Eugene Liu
Atlanta, Georgia
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