Do Ask Do Tell: Speech Is a Fundamental Right; Being Listened to Is a Privilege

Is the libertarian view of hyper-individualism, so essential to modern human rights and equality, sustainable? Does “personal responsibility” necessarily incorporate contingent provision for others? If so, how is “marriage and family” affected? How is “free speech”, and especially its self-distribution, affected? When do people need to “step up” even if doing so costs something? If what people “own” sometimes derives from invisible sacrifices by others, is occasional payback unreasonable? Maybe “paying your dues” matters as much as “paying your bills.”

Do Ask, Do Tell: Speech Is a Fundamental Right, Being “Listened to” Is a Privilege is the third of a sequence of Bill Boushka’s “Do Ask, Do Tell” books. The general themes of the books are individualism and personal responsibility, and especially how these precepts apply to “gay equality” and free speech issues.

The latest book traces these widely dispersed issues centered around individualism further, particularly in areas like various threats to Internet freedom that we take for granted, gay equality (including marriage and parenting), the workplace, and eldercare, the latter driven by rapid demographic change.