"I am a citizen, you must hold (if you are the government) or fund (if you are a taxpayer) an election for me to vote in."
What's your feeling on that positive right? I've encountered people who argue against democracy, and I've encountered people who will re-word the right as stated above and then call it a negative right. I disagree with the former, and the latter only succeed in demonstrating that the difference between positive and negative rights is one of phrasing, and not of the right itself. Do you have a different take on the matter?
The idea of "negative" and "positive" rights is one way of looking at the matter, but it has flaws.
Edit: I don't mean to imply the parent post is making any argument one way or the other; I'm just commenting on the idea itself.
Edit 2: Other things (some completely outlandish, some more plausible) worth thinking about:
- I own a square mile of land with a river running through
it. You own an adjacent square mile of land downriver
of mine. If I, entirely on my own property, divert the
river such that it ceases to run through your property,
have I aggressed against you? Do you have the right to
never have the value of your property decrease?
- I am fantabulously wealthy and buy up all the food in
the world. Do I have the right to refuse to sell it?
Have I aggressed against the other 7 billion by forcing
the large majority of them to starve to death?
- The local branch of the Nazis are hunting for members
of unpopular minorities. I am a gay black Jew. Am I
justified in trespassing on a stranger's property in
order to hide and evade capture?