Rep. Adrian Smith (R-NE-3) refuses to say whether people have a right to eat

[Antonio the Sixth]

Eat the rich

Yo spare me an arm of Bernie Madoff. My best friend's brother makes the best marinade.

Okay that's actually pretty funny.

But I prefer a sauted Bill Gates knee myself.

I'll have myself some Peter Thiel ribs.

[Barnes]

UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 25, Sec. 1:

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The United States voted in favor of adopting the declaration, along with all other UN members except the Soviet Union and its satellite states, South Africa, and Saudi Arabia.

Really? That's surprising considering that their purported ideology was all about actually fulfilling those rights.

The Soviet Union under Stalin (really basically for its entire existence save for the NEP era, the early Khrushchev years, and Gorbachev) was basically like the very end of Animal Farm, so no shock that they didn't want to sign it.

Considering that these are purely symbolic declarations with no binding force whatsoever, and that no person claiming to be a communist could possibly disagree with any part of it, I still fail to see why they wouldn't. They signed the Helsinki convention, for crying out loud.

The Soviet Bloc purported their abstention was a result of the Declaration not being critical enough of Nazism and Fascism; most likely, though, it would be Article 13--Free movement of people. 

[JA]

You guys do realize that Rep. Smith is a Republican and quite obviously subscribes to the traditionally Conservative/Classical Liberal belief in negative liberty, but not positive liberty, yes? The only "rights" he accepts would be freedom from external constraint (the US Bill of Rights best exemplifies this form of liberty), not the right to certain resources. Although it is unpopular to say outright today, it is what underpins the Conservative and Libertarian ideologies. That is why you will rarely hear them talk about a right to things like healthcare, food, housing, or any other resource or commodity. The Second Amendment does not even guarantee the right to a gun, only the right to not be prevented from owning one (broadly speaking, since there are technicalities).

Agree with him or not, this is not particularly controversial or even surprising.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Just because it's a commonly held view doesn't make it any less evil.

UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 25, Sec. 1:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

The United States voted in favor of adopting the declaration, along with all other UN members except the Soviet Union and its satellite states, South Africa, and Saudi Arabia.

Really? That's surprising considering that their purported ideology was all about actually fulfilling those rights.

The Soviet Union under Stalin (really basically for its entire existence save for the NEP era, the early Khrushchev years, and Gorbachev) was basically like the very end of Animal Farm, so no shock that they didn't want to sign it.

Considering that these are purely symbolic declarations with no binding force whatsoever, and that no person claiming to be a communist could possibly disagree with any part of it, I still fail to see why they wouldn't. They signed the Helsinki convention, for crying out loud.

The Soviet Bloc purported their abstention was a result of the Declaration not being critical enough of Nazism and Fascism; most likely, though, it would be Article 13--Free movement of people. 

Yeah, that makes sense.

[JA]

Just because it's a commonly held view doesn't make it any less evil.

I never said it wasn't evil. Almost everything about that classical liberal philosophy is abhorrent to me, but many in this thread are reacting to this as if his beliefs are somehow outside what is, unfortunately, the mainstream of American politics.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

From a conservative perspective, it hardly makes sense to say there is a right to some resource without specifying who has a duty to provide that resource.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

As disturbing as those comments are, I am slightly more disturbed at the support for cannibalism in this thread.

get back you disgusting vultures

[dead0man]

Bring back the guillotine.

do you know what happened to the guy that said that?

[Person Man]

Basically, "I'm pro-life until you're hungry."

Ironically, there was a biblical right to food.

[bore]

People have a right to eat, but peope don't have a right to food.

Huge difference.

People have a right to bear arms, they don't have a right to arms.

In its majestic equality, the law forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, beg in the streets and steal loaves of bread.

[KingSweden]

Rep. Smith might be one of the most anonymous Congressmen on the planet, at least before this

This is Tom Osborne's old district no?

[Attorney General, LGC Speaker, and Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

Rep. Smith might be one of the most anonymous Congressmen on the planet, at least before this

This is Tom Osborne's old district no?

For what it's worth, I had to actually look up what district Smith was from when creating this thread.

Yes, but Osborne was also a republican.