In national election campaigns the subject of "rights" always plays a central role. Does a fetus have a "right to life" or a woman a "right to choose". Does a person have a right to carry a weapon, a right to affordable health care, and so on. Some people feel that all humans, not just US citizens, have a right to liberty, while others do not believe that any rights exist. NJLP members can help clarify what rights mean to libertarians by filling in the blanks below.

1. The US Supreme Court decided in Kelo vs. New London, CT, (2005) that the US government has a right to take the private property of some and give it to other private interests. Additionally, if one does not pay property taxes, government authorities can seize one's property, or if one is suspected of drug trafficking or other criminal offenses, governments may seize one's property without "due process".
Please fill in the blanks, if you will: Property rights are not merely privileges granted or withheld by governments as maintained by many police academy and law school graduates, they are actually _______ as evidenced by___________.

2. If a person offers sexual services on the street, in a newspaper, or on the web, he or she may be arrested and fined or imprisoned. Please fill in the blanks, if you will:
Freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and the freedom to do what one wants with one's body (Individual liberty.) are not merely privileges granted, modified, or rescinded by governments (Nevada differs from many states regarding sex for sale.) as many law school and police academy graduates maintain, but are actually
----------------- as evidenced by_______________.

The first part of each is easy. They are natural rights. Legal documents (Bill of Rights, etc) merely enumerate these rights that ALL human's have. I'll have to think about the second blanks a bit, and its much too late right now.

Hi Jay,
Yes, the evidence seems hard to come by. Things like the Waco massacre, the Nazi Holocaust, and the "Shock and Awe" campaign against innocent Iraqis seem to provide evidence that humans are not born with any more inherent rights than a chicken, and that a hand gun is probably more useful in protecting one's individual liberty than natural rights or the unalienable rights listed in the Bill of Rights including those rights not ennumerated and "reserved to the people". Counting on a government to protect oneself seems about as useful as counting on a St Christopher's medal, except that the medal won't try to draft you or imprison you for victimless crimes, etc.
Tom

Lou Rollins' The Myth of Natural Rights (1983) has been re-released as The Myth of Natural Rights and Other Essays, and can be pre-ordered from Amazon.

It does not amaze me that there is no regard to rights in this country.We totally deny the most basic right, that of the right to be born.If that right is not guarenteed we cannot possibly guarantee any other right.What right is more important than the right to be born? Without that right there are no rights.What is more important than the right to be born? I would really like to know which right supercedes life?

Libertarian rights seem to very rarely be black and white even though they are inherent. Natural rights are rights that the majority of people just know they have. Most of us instinctively know what is right and wrong. I know that hitting someone with a baseball bat or stealing a car is wrong. I didn't need Washington (or Trenton) to tell me that. My parents did. Even most of those who commit crimes of violence or property know what they are doing is wrong, they just do not care. It's the things that are questionable in the law that we wish to bring to light and debate about. We seek to represent those who go about their daily lives saying "The laws in this state really suck!" or "That shouldn't be illegal! Who did it hurt?"