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Edited on Wed Oct-05-05 06:40 AM by davepc
and equate Jefferson's use of the word "creator" to mean Juedo-Christan Deity.
It's not what he meant. He didn't believe in it. Hell, Jefferson edited the New Testamet to remove every reference to divinity. He just happened to like the moral clarity of Christ as described in the bible. He wanted to cut out all the mystical clutter and focus on the (very modern day liberal) message. No miracles, no resurrection, no angels, no prophecy...Just a good man doing good things...loving his neighbor and all the rest.
If our rights come from a piece of paper then they can be created or destroyed with a #2 pencil and an eraser!
If a man stronger then you takes you against your will, places you in a cell and locks the door, writes on a piece of paper that you no longer have rights and that he is your master, then walks away, did your rights disappear? Or did your ability to freely exercise your rights become infringed?
If you believe that rights are man given, then the individual who put you in your cell decided what rights you do and do not have. Since he has power over you, thats that.
If you believe rights are a naturally existing byproduct of being a human being then your rights did not disappear. While your ability to exercise them has been restricted by a tyrant, the existence of your rights did not vanish.
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness are intrinsic things that all living breathing human beings have simply because they are living breathing human beings. If an individual wants to say that "God made us that way" then hey, great...but there is absolutely NO need for a divine supernatural man in the clouds for us to have intrinsic rights that supersede every human construct of government.
If rights come from some collective agreement, what is there stopping a majority from coming together and deciding that a minority no longer has rights? If the minority has rights *no matter what anyone else says* then their rights can never be taken away. The majority may be able to attempt to limit the exercise of the minorities rights, but they can not evaporate them.
I do not have any faith in the Nietzsche Ubermench or Hobesian Right of Kings, or any other system that suggests that men make rights and can grant them at will by simply decrying they exist or do not exist.
Rights supersede the ignorant spouting of tyrants, dictators, and mob majorities.
The most oppressed slave has the same rights as the freest man in the world. The only difference is their ability to EXERCISE their rights.
Governments job is to ensure that ALL men and women have the ability to have a free exercise of their rights and to prevent tyranny!
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