The case for economic rights

[Niels Bohr 72]

Word!

Everything is so fuzzy now!

maybe he's done it so much he can't see that he misspelled that.

[PhiLandShiR 18]

Whether or not someone can take something from you by force is really not the point.

The way I see it, a right is something that is given to you that no person, entity, or being, with the possible exception of God, has legal, ethical, or moral authority to take away. That doesn't mean someone can't do it. It just means that doing so violates a certain, admittedly subjective, sense of justice.

Actually, it was the point I was trying to make. A previous post had stated:

If the government can take it away, what does "right" mean? Something that someone gives you or takes away at their whim is not a right but a privilege.

The statement seemed a bit absolute and I wanted it contest it...

Just the because the government, or anyone, can take it away, does not mean it fails to meet the standard of, a 'Right' .

So I guess I do agree with you.

I see many here making absolute, unequivocal statements and I find myself unable to resist calling them to task on them...

[scandal 951]

A right, as outlined by the Declaration of Independence, is something that all men are endowed with by their Creator. It isn't something that the government gives you. The Constitution and Bill of Rights outline limits to government, stating that government is not allowed to take or restrict these rights, which were given to each person by his or her Creator.

That is, the government does not bestow rights and does not fund them.

Interesting then that the Constitution contains within itself Article V, providing for the Amendments. Obviously the Framers recognized that it was not for them to dictate once and for all eternity the specific list of Rights for time everlasting. Rather, they created a formula by which, with a reasonably difficult ratification hurdle, the Basic Law could be amended.

The very Bill of Rights you refer to are just such a collection of Amendments, the first 10 to be exact.

Moreover, some key Amendments passed long after the Constitution and Bill of Rights have gone on to add to American's sense of inalienable rights.

Key amongst those are the 13th-15th Reconstruction Amendments, which ABOLISHED the "right" of slave holders to own slaves, defined and GRANTED the right of citizenship to freed black slaves and others, and GRANTED us all as Americans the right to equal protection under the law.

This all took place in the 1860s in the wake of the Civil War, long after the Founding Fathers had long since exited the stage. Government clearly can and has and shall expand or restrict the fundamental constitutional rights in our system of government.