Letter to the editor, First Amendment, By Travis Caidin

I don't know this fellow, but his letter to the editor nails it:

In her Oct. 10 letter (titled, presumably by the Chronicle, “Stolen political signs an attack on free speech”), Susan MacGrath complained about political signs being taken from her property. She is correct that the removal of her signs involves the crimes of theft and trespassing, and she is justified in being disturbed over such behavior, especially when it suppresses her expression of political opinions. Defacing bumper stickers on someone else’s car is similarly unacceptable.

But MacGrath also said that the removal was “an infringement on our First Amendment rights.” This is incorrect. The First Amendment is solely a restriction on government, a point that seems to be widely misunderstood. For example, if you’re saying something with political content (or, really, anything) and I tell you to “shut up,” I may be a behaving boorishly, but I, as a private citizen, haven’t violated your First Amendment rights.

Travis Caidin

Mr. Caidin makes an important distinction between engaging in criminal behavior (which is what lawbreakers do), and violating someone's rights (which is what government does). In a quick survey of my memories of accounts in the media of a private party "violating someone's rights," I could not recall a single instance where the actual offense wasn't a matter of the violation of law. In other words, a murderer is not depriving you of your right to life, he is committing murder. A thief is not violating your property rights, he is stealing.

Conversely, when government executes a criminal, the criminal is being deprived of his right to life. However, according to the powers we have delegated to government via the Constitution, government has been allowed the power to do so under certain circumstances. The same with incarceration, which is a deprival of the right to liberty. Once again, government has been granted the authority to engage in the deprival of rights according to the powers granted to it.

Because our rights descend from the Creator, government cannot grant them or take them away. Government can either secure them (make them safe) or violate them.