We often hear in the public discussion the concept of “rights” provided to people under supervision of the government. However, there is great confusion between rights and privileges in America today. Let’s start off by getting a better understanding of how rights and privileges are different.
Natural Rights
Natural rights are the inalienable rights granted to citizens by a higher power than the governing authority has to remove or improve upon. They are defined and limited; given only by God, not by government.
The idea of natural rights is found in the Social Contract theory of political and civil society. Originated by Thomas Hobbes in the Age of Enlightenment, the social contract outlines the legitimacy of the government over the individual. It stipulates that the people have given up some of their rights to “authority” in return for protection of their remaining rights.
John Locke famously built upon the social contract idea by outlining the rights the government needs to protect as including life, liberty and property. He clarified his statement on each of these as follows:
- Everyone is entitled to live
- Everyone is entitled to do anything they want to so long as it doesn’t conflict with the first right
- Everyone is entitled to own all they create or gain through gift or trade so long as it doesn’t conflict with the first two rights.
Locke’s argument was that a government should be instituted to protect these rights for each of its citizens. Let me repeat that: Government is instituted to protect these rights for EACH of its citizens. That word “each” is significant. We’ll get to it later.
His thoughts were influential at the founding of the American movement. The colonials began to be aware of their rights being slowly–possibly methodically–taken away by the British Crown. In declaring independence from the tyranny of King George III, they specifically assert, with slight modification, the “truths” John Locke called out.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, 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.”
It is of note that the “unalienable rights”–unalienable means “unable to be taken away from or given away by the possessor”–are endowed by their Creator. At that time in history, the King was seen as the representative of God on earth. For the Founding Fathers to include the language of being “endowed by their Creator” with these unalienable rights, they stated the authority they recognize went above the head of the King and directly to their Creator.
In citing these rights, the Founding Fathers were reasserting the social contract: that the government’s role is not to instill or deplete these rights, but to maintain them for every individual.
These rights are narrow in scope, but can allow individuals many freedoms not specifically named by these rights. It was intended to be that way, and still applies in our day.
Privileges
Let’s turn our focus to privileges for a brief moment. Going back to the root of the word, privilege means “private law.” In other words, it’s a” benefit, advantage, or a ‘right’” given to a limited portion of the population. By their very definition, privileges cannot be natural rights. As they are given to a limited portion of the population, they also cannot be given to “each of its citizens.”
Whereas rights cannot be removed or revoked by a governing authority because they are endowed to each of us by God, privileges are conditional. Revoking privileges, therefore, is always on the table by various government decisions.
So…why does it matter:
We hear so many politicians and others, especially more liberal leaning individuals, talk about a variety of privileges, claiming they are human rights. Among these privileges, universal health care, free college tuition, and universal minimum wage are declared as “rights” that all Americans–citizens or not–deserve. This cannot be the case.
While I appreciate that people want, and need, these things, the simple fact is wanting something (even really badly) does not make it a right that you receive.
We are not “endowed by our Creator” with access to health care, paid college tuition and a guaranteed wage. Those things cost money. They may be granted by the government, to be sure, but because they must be funded by some portion of the population, these items cannot be considered “rights.” Instead, these items are, indeed, privileges.
Having stated this difference, I firmly believe in the commandment to “love your neighbor.” While we all have rights, only some have privileges. And sometimes, people are “punished” for no reason of their own. Whatever the reason, some people just don’t have the opportunities presented to them that others get.
Yet, we don’t have to rely on the government to provide privileges to each person; however, can we not be a little more charitable toward one another, cheer each other on, and increase the number of privileges people have opportunities for?
Doing so would actually increase our rights, by supporting each other in our own pursuit of happiness. No one can take that away from us.