(A different kind of Thanksgiving post)
“Constitutional rights” implies that rights emanate from the government. They do not. No form of government anywhere, at any time, can or could grant rights. We have natural, inherent rights that the Constitution supposedly obligates the federal government to protect. As the seminal document of our country explicitly and correctly states,
“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. . . ” Government’s only legitimate excuse for existence is to protect those rights. When it does not, it delegitimizes itself.
I believe this is an important distinction, one that should never be compromised or blurred in any way. So-called “rights” granted by a government are nothing but licenses and can be revoked. As Jefferson further said of but one inherent right, so all:
“The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time. The hand of force may destroy but cannot disjoin them.”
The “hand of force” is ONLY ever legitimately deployed in defense of inherent rights, never in attacking them, for attacking inherent rights = attacking the very lives of those to whom they belong. BTW, this is key in understanding the libertarian–lowercase “l”–non-aggression principle: initiating violence against another is wrong. Responding with violence to someone (or some organization) that is violating one’s rights or the rights of another is not wrong; it is just.
So, given the tendency of governments everywhere toward anarcho-tyrrany, or just outright tyranny, I am grateful that it is God and not governments Who grants us our rights.
Me too.
I do not wish to weary the House any further. Independence is no doubt a matter of joy. But let us not forget that this independence has thrown on us great responsibilities. By independence, we have lost the excuse of blaming the British for anything going wrong. If hereafter things go wrong, we will have nobody to blame except ourselves. There is great danger of things going wrong. Times are fast changing. People including our own are being moved by new ideologies. They are getting tired of government by the people. They are prepared to have Government for the people and are indifferent whether it is Government of the people and by the people. If we wish to preserve the Constitution in which we have sought to enshrine the principle of Government of the people, for the people and by the people, let us resolve not to be tardy in the recognition of the evils that lie across our path and which induce people to prefer Government for the people to Government by the people, nor to be weak in our initiative to remove them. That is the only way to serve the country. I know of no better.
To Anonymous (or are you The PIano Guy at http://academiaguilels.tilda.ws???): Your comment is moderately interesting but unresponsive to the original post. You can do better, I hope.
If he is, an Ecuadorian commenting on the U.S. system of government as though it somehow is his government is funny.
Our constitution nowhere enshrines the concept of government of, by, and for the people in any case, that was Lincoln who used the expression in his Gettysburg Address.
But back to the original post… the ninth amendment makes it clear that the constitution doesn’t grant us rights, it merely enumerates a few that already existed and that enumeration doesn’t even include all of them that exist. Not one new right is granted.
Exactly, Perri.