Rule of Thumb: Rights

If you want a rule of thumb to determine whether or not a proposed right is really a right, here is a simple test:  If it requires anything of anyone else, requires any other person to give or do something, then it is not your right.  To live is a right.  To make other people keep you alive is not a right.  To choose your own behavior and thoughts is a right.  To choose the behavior and thoughts of others is not.  To own property is a right.  To make other people give you property is not a right.  To work to secure your own safety, or prosperity, or fulfilment, as best you can, is a right.  To make other people contribute to your fulfilment, or your prosperity, or even your safety, is not.

This is crucial.  You have a right to seek safety, to the extent that your search for safety involves actions and decisions within yourself.  You do not have a right to safety, because to be perfectly safe, you would have to control the actions of others, and that is not a right.  (And it’s a good thing, too.  Nothing is quiet as disastrous for one’s health as being perfectly safe.)

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