The Personal Website of Mark W. Dawson

Human Rights

Introduction

As sentient, conscience, intelligent beings we all have natural human rights. If we didn’t have natural human rights than any rights that we may have would be endowed by society or governments. And anything that society or government can give can be taken away by society or government. This would make humans subservient to society and governments, and not allow for any freedoms or liberties. The aphorism “Might Make Right” would be the law of the land and nobody would have protections for their persons, family, and property. Murder, slavery, theft, cruel and unusual punishments, and a host of other indignities would be commonplace. And it would usually be inflicted by the mighty upon the weak. A hierarchy of might would be utilized to organize society and governments. This is how animal societies are organized. But man is not a beast and should not govern themselves as a beast does. The common man should not be become common chattel, to be used and discarded as the mighty see fit. To do so would mean that Law would be arbitrary and used for the purposes of the mighty.

That human rights are not definitive nor fully articulated is not a reason to deny or disparage human rights. Just as morality and ethics are not established is no reason to deny the existence of or to disparage morality or ethics. Humanity must continue to explore human rights, morals and ethics to reach a fuller understanding and effectuation of human rights, morality, and ethics. And the Law must evolve to incorporate our discoveries from this exploration. To ignore human rights until they are definitive or fully articulated is to say we can ignore the law until it is definitive and fully articulated, which of course is an absurdity. It is equivalent to saying that we can ignore science until science can answer all our questions. Just as science cannot answer all questions the questions of human rights may never be fully answered. But these questions must be asked, explored, and be acted upon while we discover the answers.

The Law, Morality, and Ethics

However, with human rights, the Law is made by man to protect the human rights of an individual person. The Law is also a means to organize society in a manner that assures an orderly and just society for the protection of its citizens from enemies both foreign and domestic. This includes protection against those who would violate our human rights. No person, no group, no society, no government, and no law may encroach on the human rights of a person. Any government or law which allows for the violation of human rights is not a just government or law, and therefore an illegitimate government or law. The law resides below human rights and it is made in support of human rights. Any law that violates these human rights is null and void by its very violation. This is one of the ways that we achieve “A Just Government and a Just Society”. But just obeying the law is not enough as I explained in my Chirp “Doing Nothing Illegal”. Morality and Ethics are needed to supplement the Law, as the Law cannot conceivably cover all human interactions and situations. So, Morality and Ethics sit beside the law in support of human rights. We cannot punish people for immoral or unethical actions, for punishment is reserved for violations of the Law. We can, however, judge them in our personal and public opinions for immoral, unethical, or reprehensible actions. We can also decide to make egregious immoral, unethical, or reprehensible actions illegal in the future, but not ex post facto, if we determine they violate human rights.

What are Human Rights?

The question then is “What are these human rights?”, and “How can the law protect these human rights?”. So, what are the human rights of each person? Philosophers, Theologians, Scholars, Judges/Lawyers, Politicians, Men, and Societies have grappled with these questions for millennia with no definitive answers. We, as Americans, can start with the Declaration of Independence in that it states:

 “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed”.

We can also look to the Bill of Rights in our Constitution for more human rights as I have outlined in my article “Bill of Rights”. In addition, the thirteenth through fifteenth amendments to the Constitution expanded our human rights as I have explained in my Article “The Meaning of the Thirteenth through Fifteenth Amendments to the US Constitution.

The Revolutionary War was fought to retain and preserve these Human Rights. The Bill of Rights (the first 10 amendments to the US Constitution) was adopted to preserve these human rights. Specifically:

• The 1st Amendment was brought forth by the British attempts to shut down debate by dissolving legislative bodies and restricting assemblies, as well as constricting the freedom of the press and the freedom of speech to prevent public dissension from British dictates and mandates.
• The 2nd Amendment was brought forth by the British attempts to seize weapons of the Colonials. Indeed, the first battle of the Revolutionary War, The Battles of Lexington and Concord, occurred as a result of British troops marching from Boston to nearby Concord in order to seize an arms cache.
• The 3^rd Amendment was brought forth by the British attempts to instill fear and intimidation to prevent dissidents from exercising their human rights.
• The 4^th through 8th Amendments was brought forth by the British attempts to pervert the judicial systems to assure that dissidents would not have due process rights and to fear imprisonment or worse if they exercised their human rights.
• The 9^th and 10^th Amendments were to constrict the federal governments' powers to assure that other human rights were not impinged by the Federal government.

The United States Constitution was created to preserve our Freedoms and Liberties as defined below in “Freedom and Liberty”. The Bill of Rights was adopted to prohibit the government from encroaching on our human rights; human rights that exist by nature, not subject to governmental nor societal violations. The violation of these human rights is the main reason that the colonies rebelled against Britain as I have explained above.

Protection of Human Rights

The best way to protect human rights is to acknowledge they exist, and then to enshrine them in our deeds and laws. Let no one, entity, nor government violate our human rights, and do not yourself violate anyone’s human rights. For if anyone successfully violates another’s human rights then no one’s human rights are safe. We must continue to struggle with the question of what entails human rights and to incorporate our human rights into our Constitution, Laws, Rules, and Regulations.  In America, we have struggled with this concept since our founding. The largest struggle was in slavery and civil rights. We initially got it wrong, and some of our founders recognized it was wrong. But in America, we had the capability to recognize our wrongs and to put them right. Slavery was put right through a Civil War, while Civil Rights were put right through legislation and judicial rulings. We must continue to recognize where we may be wrong and to put it right through Legislation and Judicial rulings, otherwise, we may have to put it right through a civil war (i.e. the Dred Scott Supreme Court ruling was put right by the Civil War). May God help us if we need to resort to another civil war to put it right.

Freedom and Liberty

One should distinguish between the terms "Freedom" and "Liberty." Speaking generally, Freedom usually means to be free from something, whereas Liberty usually means to be free to do something, although both refer to the quality or state of being free. Freedom generally means you are free from despotic oppression, whether it be by a government, an aristocracy, a theocracy, or an individual or group. Freedom of Religion, Speech, Press, Assembly, Petitioning Government, to Bear Arms, to Vote, etc. refers to the release from despotic restraints. Liberty on the other gives you the right to choose a course of action. How to spend your money, what job or occupation you wish to pursue, where you live, who you associate with, what education you undertake, who to marry, or any personal decision you make is liberty. Freedom is not to be used in the sense of our being free to do anything we want. All laws can be viewed as a restriction on freedom and liberty, and such restrictions are proper in any well-regulated society. But they are only proper to prevent one person’s freedom and liberty from infringing on another person’s freedom or liberty. It is this balance between each person’s Freedom and Liberty that defines the state of a Free Society, or as Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan said:

 “I believe that every individual is naturally entitled to do as he pleases with himself and the fruits of his labor, so far as it in no way interferes with any other men's rights.”
- Abraham Lincoln on Liberty

“Freedom is the right to question and change the established way of doing things. It is the continuing revolution of the marketplace. It is the understanding that allows us to recognize shortcomings and seek solutions. It is the right to put forth an idea, scoffed at by the experts, and watch it catch fire among the people. It is the right to dream -- to follow your dream or stick to your conscience, even if you're the only one in a sea of doubters. Freedom is the recognition that no single person, no single authority or government has a monopoly on the truth, but that every individual life is infinitely precious, that every one of us put on this world has been put there for a reason and has something to offer.”
- Ronald Reagan at a Moscow State University Address

The right to liberty and the right to freedom is a human right. In law, it is any basic right to which all human beings are entitled and in whose exercise a government may not interfere. These include rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, as well as freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, petitioning the government, to bear arms, to vote, “Equal Justice Under Law”, and other human rights concepts enshrined in our Constitution.

Misunderstandings of Human Rights

Yet today, there is a misunderstanding of what Human Rights actually means. People often confuse Human Rights with a list of entitlements that should be provided for them. Human rights are not entitlements to be provided for but reside within an individual due to their humanity. There is no human right for someone or some entity to provide you with food, clothing, shelter, healthcare, education, income, etc... But there is a human right for you to pursue these things for your happiness. A government or society may decide to provide these entitlements to its citizens, but not for the purposes of human rights but for the purposes of the betterment of society. But a government or society cannot provide these entitlements if it entails infringing on another’s human rights as examined in my Observation "Entitlements". Your human rights have not been violated if these items are not provided for you. If someone or some entity attempts to interfere or stop you from pursuing these things, then they are violating your human rights.

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And remember the Law is not all for Human Rights to be established. For the Law needs Morality and Ethics for the protection of human rights.