The problem is that positive rights vary WILDLY in practicality. For example, China has the positive right to protest ("citizens of the People's Republic of China enjoy freedom of speech, of the press, of assembly, of association, of procession, and of demonstration") -- this means that you are allowed to attend official, government approved protests, of course, and not generally allowed to have protests otherwise. You still have the right to protest -- just not the right to choose what and when and where to protest. See how it gets twisted easily?
"The government shall not pass any law that restricts the ability of the people to protest" is a much stronger and safer precedent.
To be honest though, the real cool part of negative rights is that you can ALSO have positive rights on top of them. They are not mutually exclusive! Take the following phrasing:
* The government may not pass any law that infringes on the right of the people to encrypt their data (this is now a constitutional amendment and nobody can change it without a huge supermajority)
* Also, private companies may not prevent users from uploading, downloading, sending, or using encrypted data, subject to the following restrictions... (this is now law but we will keep updating this)
You have a negative right that says "the government can't abridge this right". THEN you also have a positive right that protects consumers against the actions of private companies. This is the ideal formulation for rights, I think. Negative rights are a constitutional baseline that are hard to get rid of. Positive rights need to change rapidly to address the quickly evolving world. Thus positive rights are best handled by lawmaking, while negative rights are best given strong constitutional protections.
"The government shall not pass any law that restricts the ability of the people to protest" is a much stronger and safer precedent.
To be honest though, the real cool part of negative rights is that you can ALSO have positive rights on top of them. They are not mutually exclusive! Take the following phrasing:
* The government may not pass any law that infringes on the right of the people to encrypt their data (this is now a constitutional amendment and nobody can change it without a huge supermajority)
* Also, private companies may not prevent users from uploading, downloading, sending, or using encrypted data, subject to the following restrictions... (this is now law but we will keep updating this)
You have a negative right that says "the government can't abridge this right". THEN you also have a positive right that protects consumers against the actions of private companies. This is the ideal formulation for rights, I think. Negative rights are a constitutional baseline that are hard to get rid of. Positive rights need to change rapidly to address the quickly evolving world. Thus positive rights are best handled by lawmaking, while negative rights are best given strong constitutional protections.