There exists a great deal of confusion and/or misinformation abound regarding our rights. I will try to clear things up a bit with one of my incessant ramblings.

The applicable Merriam-Webster definition of a right is “something to which one has a just claim”. That something may be material, like a piece of property, or abstract, like a power or privilege.

The Declaration of Independence, the philosophical foundation of the United States of America, explicitly states that certain rights are inalienable, or incapable of being removed. It states that all people possess these rights, which were given to us by God, the Creator. Four of these rights are listed: the Right to Life, the Right to Liberty, the Right to Pursue Happiness, and the Right of the People to alter or to abolish their Government when it fails in its duty to secure the people’s rights.

The Constitution of the United States of America, the legal foundation of the United States of America, lists certain other rights, including: the Right to freely exercise religion, the Right to free speech, the Right to peaceably assemble, the Right to petition their Government, the Right to keep and bear arms, the Right to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, and other rights. And Amendment Nine recognizes that the People have other Rights, whether or not they are listed in the Constitution.

Certain rights are more important than others. At the top of the list is the Right to Life. If your life is taken away, then you are unable to exercise any other right. Obvious, is it not?

These rights only exist insofar as they do not deprive other people of their rights.  And the primary purpose of Government is to secure the people’s rights, in other words, to prevent anyone from depriving its people of their rights. The United States of America is special, because it was the first nation founded upon this principle. All other nations before that time were based upon geography, or ethnicity, or even an individual ruler.

Unfortunately, even a nation as great as the United States has failed to secure the most basic of rights at times.  The two most heinous examples in its history are slavery and abortion. Slavery, which thankfully has been long abolished, wrongly deprived millions of people of their Right to Liberty because other people wrongly claimed the slaves as property. Abortion, which is currently legal, wrongly deprives tens of millions of people of their Right to Life because other people wrongly claim that their privacy trumps another person’s life.

Now, to clarify the purpose of government, it is to prevent the deprivation of the people’s rights. The purpose of government is NOT to provide anything relating to these rights to the people free of charge. You have a right to freely exercise your religion. This does not include the government building a church for you, free of charge, at taxpayer expense. You have a right to keep and bear arms. This does not include the government buying an arsenal for you, free of charge, at taxpayer expense.

This also applies to those rights not enumerated in the Constitution, including some rights appearing in the news lately.

You have a right to health care. This is covered under the Pursuit of Happiness. This means that the government (and other people) may not prevent you from buying/pursuing/receiving any health care or medicine you feel is necessary. However, this right does not include any health care or medicine to you, for free, at taxpayer expense. You may buy all the health care you want, nobody can stop you. But, you may not rightfully force others to buy it for you.

You have a right to education. This is also covered under the Pursuit of Happiness. This means that the government (and other people) may neither interfere with nor prevent you from pursuing your education. However, contrary to popular belief, this right does not include the typical government-run schooling, free to you, at taxpayer expense. You do have the right to pursue your education at a privately-run school, if you think that you will receive a higher quality education.

I hope that answered some of your questions about rights. I’m done rambling for today.