What rights are right?

I have been thinking of just dropping the blog.  No one listens in this world, no one cares.  I know that I write for myself, but I feel that our world is turning into the world detailed in "Atlas Shrugged".  A country where those that produce are having heavier and heavier burdens put on them, and the looters and moochers (politicians, crony capitalists=looters, entitlement kings and queens = moochers) are taking over, or may have irreversible already done so.  I will still write, of course,  it is my only outlet.  Atlas has truly become non-fiction.

I did want to write tonight, not to rail on any faction, not to be partisan, (at least I will try) and try a civic's lesson for a change.  All of this SHOULD be common knowledge to anyone who thinks to pull a lever, blip a screen, or color in a block, or simply put, a voter.  I wonder if it is.

In the Declaration of Independence, a letter written to the British King, George III, the King is told that we are endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights.  There were three enumerated rights listed,  Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.  This document, by the way, was written primarily by Thomas Jefferson, a so-called non-believer. (he wasn't)

LIFE.  I would think this is pretty obvious, but in these days, one can't be too sure.  We are granted the right of life, and it should be protected.  That is why there are laws regarding murder, manslaughter, suicide, assault, rape and more.  Maybe I am reaching too far in including injurious crime, but it is my blog, and I feel those fall in this category.  I would also say that we have a special responsibility to protect those least capable of protecting themselves.  Children, infants, and yes, the unborn.  And we equally have the right, and I would say obligation to protect our own lives as well. 

LIBERTY.  This is the hardest of all rights.  It requires a person to want to be free, which means providing their own way in the world.  Throughout the centuries, kings, tyrants, dictators, and others have dangled the promise of protection in exchange for the liberty of the people.  Freedom is not easy.  It requires accountability, to be responsible for successes, and yes, failures.  It is a right easily taken for the reason above, in fact, it is often given away, by those who don't want to stand on their own.  In this country, when we look to the government to help us, what are we trading away for that?

  

PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS.  Benjamin Franklin said of this right that we have the right to pursue happiness, and that is up to us as individuals to catch it.  This is an essential right, and this right, more than others, has led to a prosperity unheard of in the centuries of recorded history.  Historically, it was originally written in the Declaration as the Right of Property, but it was changed to not provide justification for slavery.  By the way, if you say that the aforementioned prosperity was brought about by slavery,  that  is not true.  Most of the prosperity and technological advancement occurred not before the Civil War, but after.  If people feel secure in their property, then they will feel safe in trying to increase their property, creating industry, unlocking the transportation in this country, (by rail, and auto), and bringing even the most impoverished to a level of lifestyle that was nonexistent in the world previously.  Tyrants control property through confiscation, through regulation, and by taxation.  Sound familiar?

Just a brief overview of the grievances addressed to King George III.  If you understand these, then you can begin to understand the Constitution.  Note that there is nothing about healthcare, education, jobs, or anything.  Just the opportunity to follow your dream.  Just.