The Rat makes a good point about the government's role in protecting property rights. Rights are not granted by the government, period. We have rights whether the government acknowledges them or not. Letting the government grant rights means letting it take them away at any time.
Black people had the right to equal treatment and opportunity way back in the days of slavery, despite the many laws that said otherwise. Women always had the right to vote; the government just finally acknowledged the fact in the 1920s. Of course, it is easy to say that our rights are inalienable, but why are they?
Despite what Jefferson wrote, we really can't say that our rights come from our creator when most of us can't agree on what version of what god to worship, or even whether to worship one at all. We seem to all agree that we have these inalienable rights, but where do they come from? If not a divine spark or the government, then where else? Is there a single source, or do we derive our rights from multiple sources?
The best I can figure is that we have these rights because we can conceive of them and agree upon them. We've spent millennia fighting wars and debating to come to a consensus on what rights we have. Of course, the flaw in that argument is what happens if the majority decides that a minority does not have a right, even when that minority has a legitimate claim?
What do you think, folks?
1 comment:
Amen, brother. I've been fighting for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness since the day I was born (a little over a year and a half now). So far only little sniffs and tastes of what true freedom is like. Dogs of Roland Park unite!!!
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