"Inalienable" rights

Posted by $ jbrenner 3 years, 1 month ago to Philosophy
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Please contribute comments on where rights come from, on what basis they are derived, how they are preserved, or not preserved, or even downright destroyed. I used to think rights in America were unalienable. Now aliens have more rights than I do in some cases. This is a "Check your premises" exercise.


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  • Posted by Lucky 3 years, 1 month ago
    A very good question.
    I hope this little answer is not seen as trivializing the question - I do not 'believe' in inalienable rights, or natural rights. Further, I think that those who use those terms, at least the thinking segment, do not either.

    My contention is, what they think is that these rights should be regarded by human authorities and legislators as if they were inalienable and natural. Such rights would be defined in bedrock documents, eg the Constitution. They need to be illustrated/expressed from time to time in everyday language. This would help to stop the current fashion to obscure, misinterpret, modify, and degrade these rights. Unfortunately it is in the higher courts where the most educated, intelligent, learned, jurists are (expected to be) found that has given the worst attacks.
    Some justification can be in saying- It is not accident or fair differences in views, it is deliberate.

    What I call the bedrock documents, the Constitution, must have flexibility, I think, views on rights can change over time but must not be easy to change.

    I cannot see that views on rights would be constant irregardless of culture/religion/ philosophy.

    Another mechanism for the destruction of rights is occurring via the use of so-called emergency powers. I have a real problem with this, I see the justification, but it seems to be a limited set/class in government that are able to ordain whether an emergency exists or not.
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    • Posted by LibertyBelle 3 years, 1 month ago
      I know that inalienable, (natural) rights exist. They are part of man's nature " qua man" (Ayn Rand); part of his nature as a rational being. As a rational being he has the right to conduct his life according to his own, independent, unforced
      judgment (as long as he respects the same right in the others).
      The Constitution does not give, but recognizes , his rights.
      I do not believe in the custom of hollering "Emergency!" and using that as an excuse to trample all over the natural rights of man, as, for instance, in the case of FDR having free-born citizens of the United States rounded up and imprisoned in internment camps on account of their ancestry, with zero due process.
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  • Posted by kddr22 3 years, 1 month ago
    “I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.”
    This is my ANTHEM and will follow my own path
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    • Posted by kddr22 3 years, 1 month ago
      or in pediatric terms...The Dr. Seuss Quote for today is, "Be who you are and say what you mean. Because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind!" .
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  • Posted by $ 25n56il4 3 years, 1 month ago
    I find it interesting that every elected or appointed official in Washington pledges 'true faith and allegiance' to the Constitution and pledges 'to support and to defend the Constitution, against all enemies , foreign and domestic,' . most of them have never read it. The founders of our Republic feared abuse of power by political parties as much as they did abuses by kings. Early on the Constitution was referred to as 'the civil bible of Americans'. This Administration is spitting on our Constitution! I cannot believe anything any of them say.
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