Saturday, August 1, 2009

On Liberty Pt. 4 (What is a Right)

We are hearing a lot these days about rights. But what exactly is a right? In order to enjoy freedoms and liberties afforded by the Constitution of the United States one first needs to learn a little bit about the rights protected by the document. Moreover, one also needs to understand what exactly a right in and of itself is.

A right is very simply something "God given", "endowed at birth", "self evident", etc... However this has been mirked up for several generations now until the common layperson has no idea what a right is. If they did we would not have a multitude talking about the right to health care, the right to affordable housing, etc...

In simpler terms a right is something each and every human being is endowed with, upon being born, that does not require anything from anyone else. Namely the right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness so long as I do not infringe on anyone else's right to seek and/or do the same.

In order to understand this better, ask yourself, "Can my belief in this "right" and my attaining it be done in such a manner so as not one other single person on earth has to give up something in order for me to gain said right?" If your answer is yes, I can gain this without any single person having to lose something then what you are seeking is a right. Anything else is something gained by force and/or coercion on some level or another.

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

A-freaking-men! There has been a systematic deracination of the precepts and concepts this country would founded upon. While I do not always agree with the conspiracy theorists about big brother as some sentient apparatus who is intentionally taking our rights and liberties, I do agree that it is in the nature of big government to impinge on those rights and liberties by it's very nature. People have slept for so long under the blanket of lip service they have forgotten to be mindful farmers to their crop--the government. A good farmer understands that to produce the greatest yield he must prune and pare away the inefficient parts of his operation. We are the farmers and by edict of the US Constitution, the government is our crop (not the other way around). I say it is time to do some pruing and put this big unmanageable beast back in its pen.

 
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