Myth: All people have a right to health care, a job, paid vacation time, and a home, by nature of the fact that they are human beings. Cell phones and access to the Internet are human rights that must be provided by the government if individuals are unable to afford them.
Truth: Scores of books have been written on the subject of rights, including John Lock’s Second Treatise of Government and Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan; the concept of natural rights was, perhaps, most clearly and succinctly expressed by Thomas Jefferson. The Declaration of Independence lays out what rights are and where they come from. There are many different ways to categorize rights, including natural vs. civil and positive vs. negative.
Natural rights (or human rights) are given to all men by our Creator and cannot be rightfully taken away by government. Governments are set in place to protect these rights, according to the Declaration of Independence. While legitimate governments cannot take away these natural or human rights, they can be given up by the individual. Thus executing a murderer does not violate his rights – by taking a life he has given up his right to life. The distinguishing characteristic of natural rights is that they are possessed (perhaps latently with some) by all human beings and require nothing from other humans but non-infringement. One’s right to life costs others nothing but their inability to kill one; one’s right to liberty, nothing but their inability to restrain
one; one’s right to property, nothing but their inability to steal one’s property. Natural rights need not be limited to these three, as the Declaration of Independence notes. Another natural right, perhaps, could be parental rights. It is vitally important to remember that natural rights are those that are possessed inherently by all humans and require nothing from others but to be left alone.
Civil rights are those established under various governments. In the case of the United States, they are claimed by the governed and protected by the Constitution; in the case of a monarchy, they might be granted by the monarch and protected by a charter – the Magna Carta is an example. The fact that these rights are distinct from natural rights can be seen in that they differ from country to country. For example the right to a jury trial may exist in some countries and not in others and, even where it does exist, may only be given in specific instances.
Some rights, including natural rights, are negative – they prevent governments and other individuals from interfering with certain things. Positive rights, on the other hand, are promises that the government will do or provide something. Positive rights are inherently distinct from natural/human rights because they require activity, rather than inactivity, on the part of others. Dr. Mark Mitchell explains that
“[W]hile a basic human right is something that all humans can and should enjoy by simple virtue of their humanity, the right to holidays with pay, for example, is beyond what all humans can or should enjoy for the simple reason that not every human is employed in the paid workforce.”
Thus, many positive “rights” people claim today are not rights at all, but the government benefits like health care, paid vacations, or the like which can be taken away as legally as they are created. Mislabeling these benefits as rights leaves no logical end for these rights. If anything one desires from government becomes a right, then the demands on governments (and the subsequent tax burden on the citizenry) become both unbearable and ridiculous. Mitchell says
“[T]he merging of basic human rights with aspirations creates an atmosphere where anything that someone wants can be claimed as a right. What, then, can be excluded? If I desire that all people have filet mignon on Tuesdays, why can’t I claim that as a human right? The benefits are obvious (so I claim).”
Further reading:
http://www.worldviewweekend.com/worldview-times/article.php?articleid=6895
http://www.worldviewweekend.com/worldview-times/print.php?&ArticleID=5572
http://www.frontporchrepublic.com/2011/06/access-to-the-internet-is-a-human-right/
http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/more-on-the-expansion-of-human-rights/
