| Well, isn't this the $64,000.00 question? I'm sure my answer will not be as succinct as some would like, and not nearly as organizized as I would like, but here we go...
A right is the consideration you need to give to another human in order that all humans be able to live and prosper. Life is an obvious choice. Liberty another. Beyond that, it gets sketchy, though that does not mean I am saying those are the only two rights humans should enjoy.
It does not really matter from whence they come. If your belief tends to foster the respect for the rights of others while striving to protect your own, I don't care where you think they come from. My opinion is that the rights most would recognize come from two places. Our personal drive to live and our millennia of living as social creatures. Respecting our own "rights" is innate. Respecting the rights of others is a learned social behavior because it increases the chances of every one's survival, prosperity and happiness. To have any meaning, they must be protected by something more than individual force and power.
But, that is just my opinion.
All I see when I look down, something jumpin' on the ground, Scratchin' dirt, cluckin' in the barnyard -
Tell me, could that be you?
John Kay |