Earlier today, I happened across an opinion piece on the Web site of The Huntsville Item newspaper in Huntsville TX entitled Our country gives us the right to voice our views. I did read the article and found interesting and appropriate its discussion of common misconceptions of how judges must interpret and apply the law. (Indeed, a rant-worthy topic, but for another time. Don't get me started on the politically-biased misnomer "activist judges".)
However, it's the title of the article, rather than its content, that inspired me to write about a topic that has been on my mind lately and about which my thoughts have become more focused with my decision to study law -- our rights. Principally, I take issue with the article's glib statement that our country (our government, by semantic extension) gives us any right. It does not. We, as sentient beings, are bestowed with rights and burdened with their accompanying responsibilities at birth.
Some of our greatest rights are the freedom to hold and express opinions and beliefs (be they religious, political, or what have you) and the right to associate (or not) with others. Responsibilities in light of these rights include informing ourselves about ourselves and about the world around us, as well as acting in a way that doesn't infringe upon the rights of others.
I don't intend this essay to be a comprehensive treatise on the nature of law, civil society, free will, or the responsibilities and limits of government. I just wanted to shed some light on a distinction that I find important but that seems to go unnoticed. If a government convinces the people that it bestows rights, then the people are liable to be duped into believing that the government can take those rights away. It can't.
Freedoms bestowed by a government are called privileges, not rights. The government that grants privileges can also revoke them. No government can grant rights, but every government must recognize our rights and protect them if it desires legitimacy and the support and protection of the people. :J
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