[Osborn F Enready]

Tinybear said:
Rights are not inborn, nor are they inalienable.

I say:
Incorrect. In this nation, rights are inborn by your citizenship, and that is because the creators of this nation declared that rights are inalienable in the Constitution, and limited government intrusion into the area listed as RIGHTS. Rights were deemed inalienable because they are essentially our belief and recognition that all men are created equal, and should be treated equally in the eyes of the law. They deduced rights came from God, but that was because they were majority religious folks.
Regardless, even the non-religious saw good sense in the concept liberty for all, equality for all in the eyes of the law. When they signed the Constitution, and the people GRANTED this government the "temporary power" of the people, as long as they maintained the limits of the Constitution. Unfortunately, their successors didn't take their warnings of internal threats to liberty as seriously as they should have, because if they did, we wouldnt be where we are today, with almost no rights left under the eyes of the law.

Tinybear said:
They have to be fought for and many have lost their liberty and even their lives fighting for them.

I say:
Yes, the blacks, and womens suffrage movements were proof of that. But the Constitution already specified all men created equal, same as womens rights, but it took revolts of the people for the government of the time, to be REMINDED of its limitations and clarify afterwards specific amendments to prevent future "forgetfulness". The country was divided in popular concensus, but still the minorities won, because they had the Constitution as their guide and platform of law.

Tinybear said:
Hence they must be teasured and not abused lest some dictator uses that as an excuse to take it away from you. Yes, rights can be lost; so beware.

I say:
That is what the majority of my threads are about, when I start them. Just how many of your, and every citizens rights are being infringed by the current bi-partisan dictators.