Individual Liberty — Individual Responsibility 

Natural and invented rights

One of the “great debates” of our time has to do with our rights. Despite the recent decision in the Heller case, there's still some debate and argument about our right to keep and bear arms — even though the second amendment to the Constitution expressly prohibits infringing it. The idea of “State's rights” is considered a quaint notion to many, despite the existence of the tenth amendment.

Just about all of us are aware of the unalienable rights to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness, described in the Declaration of Independence. Nobody in their right mind would declare that we don't have these particular unalienable rights, even though not one of them is mentioned in the United States Constitution or its amendments. Our unalienable rights, which come to us from our Creator are many, and not all of them have been enumerated. The ninth amendment to the Constitution recognizes that to be the case.

Amendment IX

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

We hear a lot about some of our unalienable, unenumerated rights. Among these are, allegedly, the right to “privacy”, the right to an abortion (euphemistically referred to as a “woman's right to ‘choose’”), the right to die (“death with dignity” and “assisted ‘suicide’”), and the universal right to health care.

I wonder about these sometimes. Some of our rights, unenumerated though they may be, are self-evident. The right to life seems obvious. Even before the existence of human governments, humans lived. Presumably humanity had a right to life even then. (OK, I take it back, some of the environmental extremists condemn the existence of humanity as an affront to nature — go figure. I guess some people that believe themselves to be in their right minds would declare that we don't have those unalienable rights I listed earlier.) Together with the right to life, I assume that there's a natural right to die, although I believe that it truly is a debt that we all must pay rather than a “right”.

But a few of these so-called “rights” don't seem to be unalienable natural rights to me. For example, the right to “privacy” created by the courts some time back doesn't seem to be a natural right to me. If you accept the Darwinist's premise that we evolved from apes in the African jungles, then where was our right to privacy then? We had a right to life to be sure, but a right to privacy? With no walls? If, on the other hand, you reject the Darwinist's premise and instead believe that we were created, where was our right to privacy then? We were created naked, and it was only after eating of the fruit that was forbidden that we even noticed our nakedness. The right to “privacy” isn't a natural right, it's an “invented” need resulting from the fear engendered by our own shame. Oh, to be sure, I enjoy my privacy, and wish to see it protected, but I don't believe it's an unalienable natural right allowing me to do anything I please.

How about the “universal” right to health care? This one's certainly not a natural right, and I don't believe it's an unalienable right either. Oh certainly, if a person is in need of care, compassion dictates that care be given. Christians are told to give aid to those in need (“go and do thou likewise”). But there's no “right” to health care. Go back, once more, to our origins whether you're a Darwinist or a Christian. In those days before civilization did health care even exist? Somehow I don't think so. Rather, I think that health care is the product of human compassion and learning. We may from time to time in our lives have a need for health care, but I don't know that we have a right to it.

No one has a right to demand compassion from another, although for our own soul's sakes we might have an obligation to be compassionate. But isn't that an individual obligation? It's certainly not the obligation of government.

Where our rights are truly unalienable and come from our Creator government has an obligation to protect them. When they're merely the invention of mankind, I think that that obligation is less clear, and in some cases non-existent. Assuming that government must protect a right to privacy, a right to abortion, and a right to the fruits of the labor of others (ala Social Security, and Universal Health Care) seems to me to doom government to failure.

Government's principal obligation is to protect our unalienable rights, the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It can best do this by protecting us from our enemies, both foreign (as in States and non-governmental organizations like Al Qaeda that wish to do us harm) and domestic (as in the criminals and domestic terrorists that would do us and our liberties harm), and by staying out of the way as we enjoy our rights and pursue our happiness — which ultimately will prove to be for our own benefit. When government cannot protect us because of a concern for the enemy's “privacy” we are all likely to lose our lives or our liberties. When government cannot afford to give us “the best” health care it's likely to be rationed and we'll receive too little too late.

We really need to re-examine our concept of rights from time to time. We might find that there's a difference between what we see as natural rights and what we merely desire. We might find that some of our “invented” rights ought to be trumped by our “natural” rights as well. After all, shouldn't the right to life trump the right to choose? Perhaps what we really need to examine is the difference between “liberty” and “license”.

Wednesday Hero - L/Cpl. Ryan T. McCaughn

Lance Cpl. Ryan T. McCaughn
19 years old from Manchester, New Hampshire
1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force
November 7, 2006


"I just can't believe it," said Nicole Cote, mother of L/Cpl. McCoughn. "It's not supposed to happen this way. Your kids aren't supposed to leave you." McCoughn joined the USMC during his Senior year of High School. "He said he needed to do this. He said if he could keep one dad from going to Iraq and he could take his place instead, then he'll feel like he's accomplished something."

Lance Cpl. Ryan T. McCaughn was killed on November 7, 2006 while conducting combat operations in Anbar province, Iraq. He leaves behind his mother, father, step-father and two brothers.

Wednesday Heroes is published every Wednesday by Indian Chris. None of this material originates with me, but I'm proud to host it.