Well, this is a dicey question. One that confounds many writers, scholars, professors, and politicians every single day. Everyone thinks they know what a “right” is and the truth is no one knows definitively. But there are a couple basic concepts that are important to understand about rights that might help you work your way through the question, what is a “right?”
First, there are basically two tiers of rights, natural rights and legal rights. Natural rights are something that is not given by a government, rather inherent to each and every human being. These rights are the basis for America. The Declaration of Independence declares:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
These natural rights are clearly set apart from government, something that cannot be infringed and if they are then the people have the right to take those rights back. Maybe some on the left will be helped by a quote from Joe Biden in his book Promises to Keep, “My rights are not derived from any government. My rights are not denied by any majority. My rights are because I exist.”
Legal rights are very different. And the word “right” in this context can be a little confusing. It is really better described as a privilege, but even the Constitution uses the word “right” in this context several times. Anyway, a legal right is a right afforded to you because you are a citizen of a particular country. It is not inherent to all humans but only to the people in a particular area, country, state, etc. If you are no longer a citizen or the government ceases to exist then you no longer have access to those rights, while natural rights remain regardless.
So let’s look at a couple examples. Many natural rights are laid out in the aptly named Bill of Rights in the Constitution. It’s not an exhaustive list, as it states in Amendment 9, but it’s about as close as anyone has come to listing all of them. Let’s look at the Second Amendment first because the language is the most clear:
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.
This is a right that the founders are clearly stating lives above the government. The right shall not be infringed. That right is already there, the governments sole job is to keep its hands off it. This is obviously a natural right.
Now the first First Amendment states:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
The language is a little different but the sentiment is the same, “Congress shall make no law… abridging the freedom of speech.” No law. Nothing at all should interfere with the freedom of speech, or press, or peaceful assembly. Benjamin Franklin stated, “Without Freedom of Thought, there can be no such Thing as Wisdom; and no such Thing as public Liberty, without Freedom of Speech; which is the Right of every Man, as far as by it, he does not hurt or control the Right of another: And this is the only Check it ought to suffer, and the only Bounds it ought to know.”
The right to vote is a legal right. It is not a natural right because if you take away the government what, then, do you have the right to vote on? Because this right relies on the existence of the government then it is not inherent to every human person.
So what’s the point in making the distinction between these two? Well, simply stated, one of these types of rights can be taken away. You have no inherent claim to legal rights. The government gives, therefore it can take away. Natural rights are above the government, they can’t take it away. Thomas Jefferson says, “Our legislators are not sufficiently apprized of the rightful limits of their power; that their true office is to declare and enforce only our natural rights and duties, and to take none of them from us.”
Second, all rights pertain only to the individual. If something requires the service of another person it cannot be a right. This is the part that the left can’t seem to get their heads around. Your rights are yours and yours alone, and if you say you have a right but it infringes on the rights of others then you do not have that right. Thomas Paine writes “Whatever is my right as a man is also the right of another; and it becomes my duty to guarantee as well as to possess.”
There are three big things that the left claims are rights that cannot be rights. Healthcare, Education, and Abortion.
Starting with healthcare. Imagine, for a second, there’s a group of people, among them there are no doctors. But everyone has the right to healthcare, therefore someone has to become a doctor. The person chosen to be the doctor is now basically enslaved to a life they did not choose. All of their rights have been infringed. They are forced to treat patients because everyone else has a right to healthcare. As Thomas Paine says above, if you have the right to decide what to do with your life, so does everyone else.
The left then goes even further than that. Not only do you have a right to force people to become doctors and treat them, they also claim to have the right to health insurance. Meaning that people have the right to be treated by a doctor AND the right to force other people to pay for their treatment as well. Money and service go hand in hand. Your right can’t force people to give up their lives or their money. That’s not a right.
Education works the same way. You can’t force people to become teachers just so you can be taught. People have to the right to decide how they live their lives. It’s the first two things stated as the foundation of our country. The right to live and the right to live freely. You can’t force people into servitude on the basis that you have a right to something.
Does this mean not everyone should have access to these things? Of course not. That’s the great thing about America, we are all free to partake in the aspects of our society. No one will be turned away from a hospital, you just have to pay for it. You are exchanging the service of a doctor for payment. You are exchanging the service of a teacher for payment. You just can’t force that doctor or teacher to exchange that service against their will.
Abortion is not a right on so many levels. Let’s go back to the very first right expressed in the Declaration of Independence, “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life…” That should be the end of the argument. Even according to the much-celebrated-by-the-left Roe v. Wade decision, Justice Harry Blackmon states “If this suggestion of personhood is established, [Roe’s] case, of course, collapses, for the fetus’ right to life would then be guaranteed specifically by the [14th] Amendment.” Because the left cannot find a reasonable argument against the personhood of a fetus, the decision should have been made the other direction. It ought to say, “until proven otherwise the right to life supersedes all other arguments for the termination of a fetus.” The argument against healthcare also applies to abortion as well. If there is no doctor to perform an abortion then how could you then have a right to that medical procedure? So the “right to abortion” doesn’t hold up to either standard of determining rights.
We have come to such a strange time in America where some are actively trying to install new rights that contradict basically everything that makes something a right. While at the same time trying to restrict rights that have been recognized by this country from the day of its founding. But as its been said hundreds of time, when you forget history you are doomed to repeat it. This position we’ve found ourselves in was predicted by Alexis de Tocqueville in Democracy in America in 1840, “Another tendency, which is extremely natural to democratic nations and extremely dangerous, is that which leads them to despise and undervalue the rights of private persons. The attachment which men feel to a right, and the respect which they display for it, is generally proportioned to its importance, or to the length of time during which they have enjoyed it. The rights of private persons amongst democratic nations are commonly of small importance, of recent growth, and extremely precarious; the consequence is that they are often sacrificed without regret, and almost always violated without remorse.”
We’ve become so blinded by the wonders of our country, that we think we are entitled to the privileges. We aren’t. You don’t have a right to things you want. Rights don’t work that way. You have the right to be your own person and live your own life. You have the right to think for yourself. You have the right to defend yourself. You currently have the right to vote, but only as long as you use it wisely. For the sake of our country, we should probably be a little more knowledgable about the question “What is a right?” Otherwise we’ll be asking “Where are my rights?”
