That one’s position can be painfully weakened by new legal powers is poignantly suggested by one of the arguments raised against legalizing euthanasia, granting hopeless incurables the right to authorize their own removal: “What . . . would be the effect on old people with incurable infirmities who are already suspicious that those around them want to get rid of them?”

QUESTION: The euthanasia argument reveals a deeper concern: legal rights intended as empowerment can invert into pressure on the vulnerable. Worth exploring how liberty-granting laws create new coercive dynamics.

Thomas C. Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict, loc. 789