but in every case you offer as an example a person's assertion of "privacy" is taking away another's autonomy, usually in a public place. This is exactly what the anti-choice folks are TRYING to do, but it presumes that we all recognize the fetus as a person (which they aren't, though the last trimester offers a serious grey area, a greay area that Roe deals with).
I assert privacy only as a shared value we can exploit, not as the only value.
However, you do have a point, and I will think harder on how to present my point of view.
In many cases progressives should of course be champions of privacy rights. My point is that if our political philosophy, as progressives, is a communitarian, good-government philosophy - then it seems to me that quite basic to that philosophy is the idea that privacy is not an absolute good, that sometimes - heck, often - the best interests of the community trump the private interests of individuals.
The source of sovereignty in our society is the individual citizen, but their rights are treated as secondary to corporations ... you make a good point, but at this point, I think privacy is a winning issue.
