I once saw a cartoon / infographic that attempted to explain the differences between liberals and conservatives. It had plenty of details that were subjective questions or might be said to be due to accidents of history, but it did make one very profound claim. It claimed there were two fundamentally different views of rights.
The two cases revolved around whether one held that rights were cases where:
- "others must observe", or
- "others must not interfere"
Q: Is this distinction commonly understood (and you could recommend a textbook about it), or already dismissed (and you can recommend a place where it had been deconstructed)?
The difference makes a lot of sense to me in understanding political parties. For example, racial minorities may remember the civil rights crisis as a matter of survival, and so naturally gravitate towards a view that rights are duties "others must observe." On the other hand, say a small businessperson who fears their business being regulated out of business, may gravitate towards a view that rights are duties of others "not to interfere." I think that the distinction also helps explaining why some parties are ineffective or inconsistent, say, on issues like fracking or abortion.