THE NOTION OF “Rights” is as close to the essence of politics as one can come in a word.
This is because “Rights”, like “Respect”, are earned, not granted. The loser in a political struggle may maintain the illusion that he is granting rights to the winning side.
He is forced to give way; he was not being generous in giving way.
“Rights” thus stem from agreements between parties forced to the negotiating table, and granted at said table – by violence or threat of violence.
But like Carl von Clausewitz, the German warfare analyst, famously claimed, “War is a mere continuation of policy ...
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