| I reserve the right to be opinionated, to | | | | to not have an opinion or an answer, to not |
| speak, to strongly hold ideas, ideals or | | | | advocate a position, to not define myself, to |
| ideologies, and to advocate them. | | | | not assert expertise. I am not obliged to |
| | | | weigh in on everything. |
| I reserve the right to make truth claims, to | | | | |
| hold positions even if others may take | | | | And I freely extend the same right to you. |
| offense. But I will not abuse others. | | | | |
| | | | *** |
| I reserve the right to be idealistic, | | | | |
| optimistic, not cynical or jaded, nor | | | | Somewhere, sometime, someone decided that |
| comfortably relativistic or postmodern. | | | | public debate and politics meant you had to |
| Others are free to be any of these. | | | | assert you knew everything, that your |
| | | | worldview had to be simple, complete and |
| I reserve the right to believe in things for | | | | perfectly ordered, and that everything your |
| which there is more hope than evidence. | | | | opponents thought and said was just spin and |
| | | | lies. Well the world is not simple, and my |
| I reserve the right to be wrong. | | | | views on it are not simple either. I am |
| | | | passionate about some things, interested in |
| I reserve the right to experiment with ideas | | | | many things, and often ambivalent or |
| that I am not sure about. I reserve the right | | | | conflicted over other things. It is a shame |
| to more strongly advocate ideas than I | | | | that more of our public figures do not freely |
| actually feel. | | | | assert the right to change their minds, to |
| | | | disagree respectfully, to sometimes be wrong, |
| I reserve the right to change my mind as the | | | | or to sometimes be silent. Silence from |
| world changes. | | | | pundits and politicians - wouldn't that be a |
| | | | change! |
| I reserve the right to hold ambiguous, | | | | |
| complex and sometimes contradictory ideas or | | | | This bill of rights is fundamentally about |
| ideals in complicated circumstances. I have | | | | the purposes of civil society and civil |
| not figured everything out; I never will. | | | | discourse and public debate. You would |
| | | | probably write a slightly different set of |
| I reserve the right to advocate policies in | | | | rights for yourself in order to frame, |
| one time or situation, and oppose similar | | | | develop and express your ideas. But that is |
| policies in other times or situations, | | | | exactly the point. We may all speak. By |
| especially if those policies - upon testing | | | | speaking and writing and publishing, we |
| them - turn out to be ineffective or | | | | grapple with the world and its knotted |
| damaging. | | | | problems. If the world's problems were |
| | | | simple, then smart people would have solved |
| I reserve the right to compromise to achieve | | | | them a long time ago. The world's problems, |
| good, but not perfect, solutions to bad | | | | conflicts and tragedies are fraught with |
| problems. | | | | ambiguity and differing perspectives. |
| | | | |
| I reserve the right to hold ideas that do not | | | | The power of civil society is the democratic |
| fit orthodox ideological molds. I refuse to | | | | power of multitudes speaking, discussing, |
| be defined by others' categories or | | | | testing and trying ideas. As one set of |
| philosophies or terms. | | | | policies proves itself less effective, we try |
| | | | others. Some of the proposed ideas, policies |
| I reserve the right to be a hypocrite - if | | | | or solutions are bound to be wrong-headed, or |
| what you mean by hypocrisy is to really | | | | foolish, or just not work. In that case I |
| believe in something and advocate it, but not | | | | hope I will disagree. If they were my ideas, |
| always be able to live up to it. | | | | my speech, or my advocacy, then I take |
| | | | responsibility for them. Then I may admit I |
| I reserve the right to disagree with you, to | | | | was wrong and change my mind. In many cases, |
| disagree with my friends, to disagree with | | | | we will simply have to disagree. |
| anyone (maybe even myself in part). I reserve | | | | |
| the right to voice that disagreement openly, | | | | I reserve the right to have opinions and |
| but respectfully, by speaking energetically, | | | | passionately advocate them, to believe in |
| incisively, sometimes passionately, but not | | | | idealistic positions, to sometimes be wrong, |
| abusively. | | | | to change my mind, to compromise, to disagree |
| | | | with others, and to sometimes be silent. |
| I reserve the right to sometimes be silent - | | | | |