“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.”

A right is more than an opinion. It is a philosophy, a philosophy turned law of the land that dictated the creation of The United States of America. We are a nation created to support the rights and freedom of the individual. Yes, over 180 sovereign nations are “free” now, but only the US was created purposefully to recognize, promote, and protect the rights of the individual. These rights are not contingent upon a belief in god or a denial of god; rather we name these rights as undeniable, inseparable, and vital to what it is to be a human being. This is why there currently are 180 free nations, but only 1 of them is named as the bearer of the torch of liberty. This is what Regan was referring to when he spoke of the future of the world should the United States no longer exist.

Now we find that Collectivism, that great destroyer of men and nations has hidden itself in the cloak of new titles called Liberalism and Progressivism. It has invaded our country in the form of the modern democrat. It uses the weapons of Altruism, dependency, and blindness to hack away at our rights. Having read AS and The Fountainhead you know what I mean by Altruism and dependency. I add blindness as the new weapon of the democrat.

It was the democrat of 200 years ago that sought to keep an entire race of humans in slavery. It was the democrat of 150 years ago that donned the white conical hat and started the KKK. It was the democrat of 70 years ago that stonewalled the Civil Rights Act. It was the democrat of 50 years ago that spat on soldiers returning form an unpopular war calling them baby killers. It is the democrat of 20 years ago that convinced a nation the republicans had done all these things and somehow the parties had swapped roles. It is the democrat of today that uses entitlements and dependency on the government as a means to place back into bondage not only those who were once slaves, but the rest of the nation as well. In 200 years nothing about the democrat has changed but their tactics. The goal of power to control men remains the same.

This is the clear and present danger, not only to our nation as a sovereign state, but to the rights of all individuals to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. There is however, a fault in their plans. Modern democrats are at heart cowards. They lack the courage of their convictions. Oh sure, they are very willing to use their jackbooted thugs to commit acts of violence against individuals, but it is when these thugs are bypassed the cowardice of the modern liberal is seen. You have called me everything but a child of god for my stance on promoting state gun rights, but this is where the battle is now. You can stand on your hill with your beta mags loaded and ready, but is not Obama, Pelosi, or Frankenstein from California that will come get you. They will simply send their thugs, and you will die never having seen your enemy. However as we have seen with Colorado weed law vs. federal weed law they cower and save face when it comes to fighting the states. I see this issue of individual rights vs. the collective ending one of three ways…

First, the Free states win. We use the power and influence of the state to push individual rights all the way to the door of the SCOTUS and hold out against the federal government until the people wake up and begin again to elect real leaders to turn this thing around and return the nation to what it was meant to be.

Second, the Free states hold out. The current policies of the federal government are self-destructive and unsustainable. Eventually it will all come crashing down around their ears. It will then fall again to the states and the people to rebuild the nation. It will fall to men and women that will live free and in no other way to return from all walks of society to again become men and women of great renown and protect our nation from foreign invasion, during the time it is vulnerable.

Third, the Free states fall. The federal government successfully crushes individual rights in favor of collectivism. Then I will gladly take to the hill with you and hope when I fall my body is cushioned by a big ass pile of my own empty brass. But if it is to be this way I only hope it happens soon, as I am not getting any younger, and as Thomas Paine said “if trouble must come, let it come in my time, so that my children can live in peace.”

Of course, this is all only my opinion, and ironically I am usually known as a man of few words. Here I seem to be suffering from diarrhea of the keyboard.

Dictionary says it's a moral or legal entitlement. I think you know what rights are, but you don't understand their purpose.

You like to bring up extreme empiricism-except when it pertains to Deity. Everyone uses concepts. Those concepts are not referring to a single instance. This argumentation is pure rhetoric with no intent to understand-and even the author is not willing to take it seriously, because they are using words which are concepts. A door s no different than a natural right-in that they are both concepts

psychological responses are not same as the concept of love.
I feel pressure when I touch a table with my forefinger-but that pressure feeling is not the table.
Geometry exists even though you can point to what you can see and say I don't see any two perfectly parallel lines in the world.
Concept formation: Please see Ayn Rand's Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology.