Monday, December 2, 2019

I Have Rights!

Obviously, some people have no clue what a “right” is in a free country. You have the right to everything you can do and provide for yourself, without encroaching on someone else’s rights.

We have the right to freedom of speech. This does not give anyone the right to limit someone else's freedom of speech, because we may disagree with what they are saying or writing. We have a right to accuse someone of a wrong, but we cannot deny their right to self-defense. We have a right to religious freedom, but not a right to force any religion or belief system onto another. We have a right to vote but we're not forced to vote. We have a right to education, but are not required to use public education. People have a right to their identity, but they have no right to force their identity onto others. We have the right to seek healthcare, but we have no explicit right to receive it (or any other thing of value) from another person, regardless of the services provided. Another person's skill cannot be a right.

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness are rights. Housing, legal representation, and healthcare cannot be a right because it requires another person to produce it. What happens when those who we've decided to burden with our right decide to stop providing their service and do something else? What if those who stay, to provide you with your right, are new or terrible at their jobs and you get poor treatment? Do you want a public defender, or do you want the right to pay for a decent defense lawyer, if you're charged with a serious crime?

We have a right to seek out the goods and services from trades. We have a right to reasonably regulate said goods and services, just as we have a right to refuse them. But, we don't have a right to force said trades to provide any services. Think not? Go to a plumber, electrician, or mechanic and demand they provide you service, because it's your right. What happened to their right of refusal? Even with public services, they too have rights... they're not slave labor. 

Yes, we even have a right to decline health insurance, but it's not anyone's right to force another to pay for it or their bill because they choose not to be responsible. I said choose, because there are those who feel they have a right to be irresponsible. Of course, this is not the same as any medical or mental hardship cases that our social services already cover. There are exceptions. Also, this isn't saying we don't have a right to refuse payment for bad services. No one should feel it's a right to steal from another. Which is why we have a right to seek legal counsel.

Medicare for all? I'm retired and now have Medicare. I've paid into it for many, many years, since I started working, but I still have to make monthly premiums. As it stands, it's not perfect. So far, I have a right to pay for a supplement in order to have better coverage. What right does anyone have to force me to give that up in order to belong to a single payer system? Just because some want to sign over their rights to a government healthcare, doesn’t mean others want to. Especially, one that has a proven track record of corruption and mismanagement of funds. 

Which is why our President insured that our veterans get faster healthcare by going outside the VA's sluggish system. Systems and structures produce outcomes, and those systems and structures are built through consent and perpetuated by incentives. Checks and balances are vital for positive outcomes. 

And some say, what about moral rights? Yes, what about it? What if some believe it's a moral right to euthanize all terminally ill humans as we do animals? What if a law is made because of it? What if others feel their rights are being usurped because of it? How far do we go using morals as a reason? Does any government have a right to constantly regulate something onto others due to morals?

Governments are not flawless. Stop giving your power away to them. Stop denying options to others just because you feel the need to control every situation for yourself or others. Do we really want - "it's my way or the highway"? Little to no options? Robbing Peter to pay Paul? What happens if we have a government shutdown on medical care because they can't afford to pay for services and supplies, or innovative technology, due to extreme government debt or wasteful spending? Where's my right for a backup system to prevent that? What right does anyone have to deny that? If people really believed the government was capable of handling all our issues, why do we have numerous foundations or charitable organizations, among other things, to assist humanity?

Lastly, and most importantly, we may want to keep in mind that we could be sacrificing rights by giving our power away to one entity or, as I mentioned above, to what another claims as a moral right.


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