Menu Bar
Where Do Rights Come From? (1 of 6)
Needs Plugin: Flash |
Not Working?
Retweet This
Share on Facebook
Email This
Thomas E. Woods, Jr., is the New York Times bestselling author of nine books. A senior fellow at the Ludwig von Mises Institute, Woods holds a bachelor's degree in history from Harvard and his master's, M.Phil., and Ph.D. from Columbia University.
This speech was given in September 2009 at Campaign for Liberty's Northeast Regional Conference in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.
Pt. 1 of this speech includes a definition of "rights,", a history of rights as a concept, the practice and recognition of rights in medieval times, and a comparison between those rights and the developing understanding of natural rights.
This speech was given in September 2009 at Campaign for Liberty's Northeast Regional Conference in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.
Pt. 1 of this speech includes a definition of "rights,", a history of rights as a concept, the practice and recognition of rights in medieval times, and a comparison between those rights and the developing understanding of natural rights.
Oct 8, 2009 1:47 PM
Re: Where Do Rights Come From? (1 of 6)
Sorry Tom, rights are granted to you by the government. Your right to life, liberty, healthcare, higher education are all granted to you by governments. You are nothing without your government.
The also give you your right not to be offended or not to be high or your right not to eat trans-fats.
Since products and services such as health care that have to be researched, manufactured and delivered to you by others are considered "rights" then rights cannot be natural.
The also give you your right not to be offended or not to be high or your right not to eat trans-fats.
Since products and services such as health care that have to be researched, manufactured and delivered to you by others are considered "rights" then rights cannot be natural.
By: poonhound
Re: Where Do Rights Come From? (1 of 6)
:) Wow... I know we can disagree, Poon. But I'm guessing this must be Bizarro Superman performance theater on your part.
Rights are Products? Rights are Commerce? Sounds like the mantra a fascistic corporate power would want you to repeat mindlessly... Totally anti-American.
Rights are Granted to us by Government? Um...only to someone who hates our freedoms. In reality, it's the exact opposite.
But if this was a satirical bit of performance art on your part, consider me duped. And bravo!
Rights are Products? Rights are Commerce? Sounds like the mantra a fascistic corporate power would want you to repeat mindlessly... Totally anti-American.
Rights are Granted to us by Government? Um...only to someone who hates our freedoms. In reality, it's the exact opposite.
But if this was a satirical bit of performance art on your part, consider me duped. And bravo!
Re: Where Do Rights Come From? (1 of 6)
Of course it was satirical.
He's saying (very clumsily) that legal rights are inherent to all human citizens born into certain geopolitical regions. And that we have no right to anything that we declare to be owned by someone else. Since we use public resources to subsidize drug companies' acquisition of "intellectual property", and since we declare that property to be owned by those private corporations, and since we declare corporations to be legally persons with legal human rights, and since we declare those persons political activities and payments to be a form of free speech, we have no right to health care. But we can have health care if we first convince a different corporation to accept payments from us while we're healthy, and then convince that corporation to please please please pay another corporation on our behalf when we're sick.
Of course, these corporations are all owned by the same families. Property inheritance is a natural right. Meeting your basic life-support needs is not a natural right. Therefore, what you need to take care of your own needs is owned by someone else, so get to work, ya lazy unemployed bum. There's no such thing as a free lunch, you know. Now make your landlord a sandwich. Vote a couple of times per decade and shop every day. And don't even think about collective solutions that don't involve "traditional" families and corporations as a basic unit of collectivity.
Hope that helps, Bucky.
He's saying (very clumsily) that legal rights are inherent to all human citizens born into certain geopolitical regions. And that we have no right to anything that we declare to be owned by someone else. Since we use public resources to subsidize drug companies' acquisition of "intellectual property", and since we declare that property to be owned by those private corporations, and since we declare corporations to be legally persons with legal human rights, and since we declare those persons political activities and payments to be a form of free speech, we have no right to health care. But we can have health care if we first convince a different corporation to accept payments from us while we're healthy, and then convince that corporation to please please please pay another corporation on our behalf when we're sick.
Of course, these corporations are all owned by the same families. Property inheritance is a natural right. Meeting your basic life-support needs is not a natural right. Therefore, what you need to take care of your own needs is owned by someone else, so get to work, ya lazy unemployed bum. There's no such thing as a free lunch, you know. Now make your landlord a sandwich. Vote a couple of times per decade and shop every day. And don't even think about collective solutions that don't involve "traditional" families and corporations as a basic unit of collectivity.
Hope that helps, Bucky.
Re: Where Do Rights Come From? (1 of 6)
Hallelujah! Praise Jack Welch and pass the foodstamps!
I have been enlightened...
I have been enlightened...
Re: Where Do Rights Come From? (1 of 6)
If I were to believe this guy, then I would have to deny the basic principles of representative democracy. The government steals from the people, because they are a different group?
I don't want to go into it, if only because nobody reads this, but this rational validation of libertairianism is full of holes. Almost all of the principles he cites are sound in my eyes, but his use of them is biased. blablah... (starts to seriously derail his train at the end of part 4)
I don't want to go into it, if only because nobody reads this, but this rational validation of libertairianism is full of holes. Almost all of the principles he cites are sound in my eyes, but his use of them is biased. blablah... (starts to seriously derail his train at the end of part 4)
By: wadadde
