Listen in to a Democratic debate and you’re likely to hear Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg, or any others for that matter, talk about human rights in a way not spoken of before in America.
They have stated that healthcare, pre-k education, childcare services, college, and employment are all human rights.
But, are they?
In reality, the only rights guaranteed are found in the United States Constitution.
Things like freedom of the press, religion, free speech, and freedom of expression are rights. If you’re arrested, you have the Miranda right to say nothing that could incriminate you. Due process and freedom from searches and seizures that are unreasonable are also rights under the Constitution.
Some Democrats claim abortion is also a right, but that isn’t in the Constitution. If it were, there wouldn’t be any debate or court cases about the subject.
People have no more right to free college, healthcare, and work than they do parks or street lights. Those are nice things to have, but they are not rights in themselves.
Why the Democrats are Cloaking Their Positions in Liberty
Everyone claims, especially politicians, that they don’t want to infringe on someone’s liberties. Yet, they fail to remember what liberty is; liberty means constraint of government.
Democrats are not trying to constrain government. They’re trying to grow it and use it to control every area of our lives.
The only way Democrats can convince some people to go along with their scheme of increasing the size and influence of government on our lives is to turn something that isn’t a right into a “right.” The fact that so many are trying to make these concepts a “right” proves that they aren’t.
Dangerous statements being made about rights that don’t exist are misleading Americans into believing something that isn’t true. When you’ve convinced the public that an untruth is true, the possibilities are endless. When these “rights” aren’t given, people don’t understand why and respond with anger at their supposed “right” being taken away that never existed in the first place.
What Should Democrats Say?
What Democrats should say instead is that healthcare “ought to be” or “should be” a right. Not that it IS a right. They might be much more convincing, persuasive, and accurate.
The challenge for voters and candidates is that freedom of speech and expression allow politicians to say things they know aren’t true. This is the dynamic of the marketplace of ideas. The only way to make the Democrats’ list of “rights” an actual right is for Congress and the states to agree to amend the Constitution.
By changing the definition of “human rights,” Democrats are suggesting it’s okay to infringe on liberty and rights granted by the Constitution.
Copyright 2019, TargetLiberty.org
