🚀 go-pugleaf

In Article <3530@tnc.UUCP>, m0165@tnc.UUCP (Roger Firestone) wrote:
>
>Joe wrote, "there were no *rights* until we created them by law."
>
>On the contrary, that is _not_ the basis on which this country was
>founded.  The Declaration of Independence clearly states a philosophy
>of natural rights ("...all men are...endowed by their Creator with
>certain unalienable rights...") and that government and laws are
>created to "secure these rights."
>
>The idea of rights stemming from a government is the idea that
>underlies tyrrany.  If a government creates rights, then the
>government can take them away.  If rights, on the other hand, are
>antecedent to government, the government has only such powers as are
>given to it for the necessary purpose of protecting the rights of its
>citizens.
>
>Unfortunately, too many of us have been brainwashed into believing
>what Joe does.  It's not Joe's fault; those who would enslave us are
>very good at getting us to swallow the bait without noticing the hook.
>
    Please don't make excuses for me. I was not referring to the *philosophy*
of natural rights which *is* the basis of our constitution as you have
correctly stated. I'm merely pointing out that that concept is but one of
many that humans have adopted as a guide in creating and maintainining a
society. There are other philosophies that contradict the idea of natural
rights. Who is to say which, if any, of these philosophies accurately
reflects what we percieve to be the *real* world?

    In the end, we make it all up. What is important is that we make up and
adopt the right things, from a survival standpoint.

    -- Joe