A Follow-Up On Libertarians and Rights

I should also note as an addendum to the post below, that Borders makes a move in his article that I’ve seen a lot of libertarians make, irrespective of their views on foreign policy. Oftentimes it is held (or implied) that since rights must be protected by concrete social and political institutions, rights are nothing but the constructs of social and political institutions. The first claim is true – there will be no rights protection without institutions to protect them, such as the rule of law, fair and impartial courts, due process, etc. But it by no means follows that rights don’t exist apart from those institutional protections.