Ignoring Those Whose Rights You Seek to Abridge

In an essay arguing for Congressional extension of the seventy year copyright period--for "no good case exists for the inequality of real and intellectual property"--in the Summer 2007 issue of the Claremont Review of Books, Mark Helprin makes a profound statement: "You can always make a case for the public interest if you are willing to exclude from common equity those whose rights you seek to abridge." We could apply this true principle to a great many things. Abortion, for one, where our nation has chosen to ignore the child. Taxes, for another, when we ignore the taxpayer. Gossip, for yet another, when we ignore the subject of the gossip. And on and on.