The Rights of Man

Every day we wrestle with rights: free speech rights, property rights, civil rights, women’s rights, employee rights, cultural rights, parental rights, teenager rights, unborn infant rights, minority rights, human rights, electoral rights, sexual preference rights, consumer rights, animal rights, social rights, labor rights, citizen rights, immigrant rights, healthcare rights, environmental rights, welfare rights, to list just a few. What is a right?

A right is defined by authority. For example, if someone begins speaking and they are in no way prevented from speaking, then they have the authority, or the right to speak. But if someone else does prevent them from speaking, then their authority to speak has been taken away, or in other words, they no longer have the right to speak. A less obvious example would be breathing. We normally don’t question our right to breath, but if the authority which allows us to breath was taken away, we would stop breathing and become dead. Murder usurps the victim’s authority to breath, or in other words, murder abolishes the right to life. In summary, a right is the authority to think, to speak, and to act.

Where does authority come from? One possible answer is from man;* man creates authority. For example, one man is physically or mentally stronger than another man, and uses this strength to assert authority over the weaker man. In society, men collaborate and agree upon the creation of laws, and then from the authority of the law delegate some degree of authority to other men to administer or enforce the law.

Aside from manmade authority, the only other source authority could come from is the creator of man. Man calls this concept of a Creator, God. If, however, we conclude that there is no God, or in other words that man was not created and comes from no identifiable origin, then all rights and all authority only come from man and are relative. If we conclude that the origin of man is indeed God, then specific absolute rights and authority are given to man from God. We commonly refer to these rights as inalienable, meaning that certain defined authority is inherently given to every man as part of his creation or formation.

Manmade rights, the authorities that come from man, are notoriously inequitable and are in constant conflict. Man is by nature an egocentric creature, who unless challenged by someone more powerful, considers his rights and his authority as superior to those around him. Take for example a typical politician, who professes one standard for his constituents, but personally lives by a completely different standard. This selfishness is manifest in all types of social organizations, in education, in business, in religion, in a family; and the resulting conflict leads to the rights of one man being subjugated to the elevated rights of another. And even when inequities are brought before a court of law, the judge and/or jury’s administration of equity and prudence is at times suspect. In summary, man continually proves his inability to create equitable rights and authorities.

On the other hand, God-given rights and authorities are perfectly equal. Man may be born with inequitable physical, mental, and socio-economic opportunities, but the inalienable rights are always the same. The right to think, to speak, to act, to own property, to defend property ownership or to pursue happiness, are some of the inalienable rights given by God, and are equal to all men. God sees all men as equal. Man sees other men as unequal, and to prove his point, he uses the ignorant rationalization that because men are not born physically, mentally, and socio-economically equal, God really does not see men as equal. Such a paradigm naively dismisses the reality that if we were all perfectly created the same, then what would be the point or the purpose of this existence on earth? Through imperfection, we can learn and develop. Through failure, we can succeed. Through pain, we can appreciate joy. Through need, we can lift and support each other. In other words, without the opposition that imperfections provide, what seems like a perfect utopia would actually be an existence entirely void of understanding or feeling; being placed on top of a mountain would be meaningless compared to the exhilaration experienced after conquering a difficult and dangerous climb from below. Clearly, our Creator understands this reality, or we wouldn’t have been created with different imperfections and the opportunity to climb mountains.

Probably the greatest confusion and distortion of authority is the claim that one man has the right to receive a tangible good or service from another man. If God gave all men the inalienable right to own property, and one man needs or wants the property that another man owns, then inalienable rights are rendered unequal to forcibly take from one man in order to give it to another. It is self-evident that God expects man to voluntarily give of himself to help other men in need, but in providing the assistance, not to take away the receiving man’s opportunity to climb mountains. But if there is no God, then inalienable rights do not exist, and men act as pseudo gods by forcing one man to give of his property to another man based on relative assessments of excess, needs, and wants. In summary, the authority to take by force from one man in order to give to another man does not come from God; it comes inequitably from men with elevated rights and unjust authority.

The rights of man define freedom. Freedom is man’s opportunity to exercise all of his inalienable rights so long as he does not violate any other man’s inalienable rights in the process. God gives absolutely equitable inalienable rights. Man selfishly creates under the guise of equality, relative rights that are inequitable. Government’s sole responsibility is to protect and preserve freedom by using its authority to equitably protect all of the inalienable rights of it's citizens.

* Simply for communication efficiency, “man” refers to every human being, inclusive of all races, cultures, sexes, ages, with exceptional abilities or handicaps, who has lived, is currently living, or will live on this planet we call earth. Specifically it is one individual of the human species, unique to all others as evidenced by a complex genetic code, and yet equally part of a genus which is remarkably superior to animals while being remotely inferior to a god.