Unalienable Rights

                The liberty principle for this Freedom Friday is the simple belief that God has given us certain unalienable rights.  The Declaration of Independence set forth three very important unalienable rights:  life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  No human being, legislature, Congress, or vote of the people has the power to take these rights away.  The reason government is instituted in the first place is to protect our unalienable rights, particularly our rights of life, liberty, and property. 

                Ezra Taft Benson, late President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and former Secretary of Agriculture during the Eisenhower administration, spoke often of the role of government and stated:  “Rights are either God-given as part of the Divine Plan, or they are granted by government as part of the political plan.  Reason, necessity, tradition and religious convictions all lead me to accept the divine origin of these rights.  If we accept the premise that human rights are granted by government, then we must be willing to accept the corollary that they can be denied by government.  I, for one, shall never accept that premise” (“The Proper Role of Government”).  

                Frederick Bastiat wrote, “Life, liberty, and property do not exist because men have made laws.  On the contrary, it was the fact that life, liberty, and property existed beforehand that caused men to make laws in the first place” (The Law, 1850).  

                Frederic Bastiat (1801-1850) was a French economist, statesman, and author and did most of his writing just before and immediately after the French Revolution of February 1848 and during the period of time that France was going socialist.  The Law  was published 165 years ago as a pamphlet in June, 1850; its truths have passed the test of time, and its values are eternal.  His writings deserve to be studied because many socialist/communist ideas are currently sweeping America. 

                The government is in place to protect our unalienable rights instead of infringing upon them.  The ideas for this blog and the above quotes are from this site, which states: 

                “Destruction of individual rights in the name of security and welfare is a breach of the government’s contract with `the people’, yet this happens regularly by our current Federal Government.  In George Washington’s day as President there 350 employees of the Federal Government serving about 3 million people, with one person serving 8,600 people (one person serves 107 people today).  By today’s standards Washington should have added 27,650 more federal employees to his 350.  These figures are atrocious, as are the 650+ official Federal Government Agencies in existence.”

                We have approximately 318,900,000 people living in America today and 2,721,000 federal non-uniform employees in the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government.  This number does not include any military members.  There are also many more government employees in the fifty states plus other government units.  The job of all these employees is to protect our unalienable rights.  We should be holding them accountable instead of allowing, encouraging and supporting the taking away of our rights. 

Unalienable Rights

The topic of discussion for this Freedom Friday is the principle of liberty that all men "are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." We know from this statement in the Declaration of Independence that the Founders understood that the basic rights of mankind come directly from God and not from any government authority. These unalienable rights are also called natural rights. No man or government has the authority to take these rights from us without answering to God, but we can use our agency unwisely and forfeit them.

It is important that we understand that our basic rights come from God and not from the government. Rights that come from God can be taken away only by God. Rights that come from the government are often taken away by the government. If we believe our unalienable rights come from the government, then there is a good chance that government will start to take those rights away from us. This is probably one reason why progressives are trying to take God out of the equation all together. The rights created by governments are called vested rights. They include such rights as the opportunity to hunt in a certain area or season and the opportunity to use a certain highway or the right to obtain a driving license at a certain age. These are the kinds of rights that the government has authority to change or take from us.

The Founders did not include all of mankind's unalienable or natural rights in the Declaration of Independence. Some other natural rights are enumerated in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights: the right to self-government, the right to bear arms, the right to worship as we choose, the right to a fair trial, the right of free press, the right to petition our government, the right to speak freely, and the right to assemble. There are still other natural rights such as the right to choose our own mate, place to live, and profession and the right to have children.

The phrase "pursuit of happiness" was well understood at the time it was written, but some people in our day question what it means. John Adams clearly explained it when he stated, "All men are born free and independent, and have certain natural, essential, and unalienable rights, among which may be reckoned the right of enjoying and defending their lives and liberties; that of acquiring, possessing, and protecting property; in fine, that of seeking and obtaining their safety and happiness." (George A. Peek, Jr., ed., The Political Writings of John Adams, Liberal Arts press, New York, 1954, p 96, as quoted by W. Cleon Skousen in The 5000 Year Leap, p 96).

Divine Law

It's Freedom Friday! Are you wearing blue in support of our men and women in the Armed Forces? The topic for today is unalienable rights of man. The unalienable rights of man come from God and were given to mankind by direct revelation. These divine principles are found in the Holy Scriptures and are preserved and protected by divine law. Most people recognize these laws as the Ten Commandments, which are basically as follow: 1) Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 2) Thou shalt not make unto thee any gravel image or any likeness of anything. 3) Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. 4) Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy. 5) Honour thy father and thy mother. 6) Thou shalt not kill. 7) Thou shalt not commit adultery. 8) Thou shalt not steal. 9) Thou shalt not bear false witness. 10) Thou shalt not covet. (See Exodus 20:3-17.) Whenever God gives blessings to His children, He makes those blessings dependent on obedience to His commandments. When God bestowed divine rights on His children, He also bestowed duties. Our Founders understood the connection between divine or natural rights and unalienable duties. Thomas Jefferson stated that man "has no natural right in opposition to his social duties." (Bergh, Writings of Thomas Jefferson, 16:282, as quoted by W. Cleon Skousen in The Five Thousand Year Leap, p 100.) Skousen indicated that "our unalienable duties, both public and private are an inherent part of Natural Law. They constitute a responsibility imposed on each individual to respect the absolute rights or unalienable rights of others" (Five Thousand Year Leap, p 101). Skousen proceeded to list twenty of what he considered the "more important responsibilities which the Creator has imposed on every human being of normal mental capacity." Several of those duties correspond directly with the Ten Commandments. Here are some others: The duty to be law-abiding. The duty to care for the poor, sick, injured, etc. The duty to work hard enough to provide for your own needs and the needs of your family. The duty to vote and be part of the community. The duty to protect the institution of the family. Skousen quoted Sir William Blackstone who was a contemporary of the Founders: "Man, considered as a creature, must necessarily be subject to the laws of his Creator…. This will of his Maker is called the Law of Nature…. This law of nature, being coeval with mankind, and dictated by God, Himself, is of course superior in obligation to any other. It is binding over all the glove in all countries, and at all times: no human laws are of any validity, if contrary to this." (Commentaries on the Laws of England, 1:54, 56, 63, as quoted in Five Thousand Year Leap, p 104). God's laws are sacred and are not subject to legislation. Our Founders understood the sacredness of the laws of God, and they wrote the Constitution to support the natural laws, not to oppose them.

Unalienable Rights

For this Freedom Friday, let's discuss the principle of liberty that all men "are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." We know from this statement in the Declaration of Independence that the Founders understood that the basic rights of mankind come directly from God and not from any government authority. These unalienable rights are also called natural rights. No one has the authority to take these rights from us without answering to God, but we can use our agency unwisely and forfeit them. It is important that we understand that our basic rights come from God and not from the government. Rights that come from God can be taken away only by God. Rights that come from the government are often taken away by the government. If we believe our unalienable rights come from the government, then there is a good chance that government will start to take those rights away from us. The rights created by governments are called vested rights. They include such rights as the opportunity to hunt in a certain area or season and the opportunity to use a certain highway. These are the kinds of rights that the government has authority to change or take from us. The Founders did not include all of mankind's unalienable or natural rights in the Declaration of Independence. Some other natural rights are enumerated in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights: the right to self-government, the right to bear arms, the right to worship as we choose, the right to a fair trial, the right of free press, the right to petition our government, the right to speak freely, and the right to assemble. There are still other natural rights such as the right to choose our own mate, profession, and to have children. The phrase "pursuit of happiness" was well understood at the time it was written, but some people in our day question what it means. John Adams clearly explained it when he stated, "All men are born free and independent, and have certain natural, essential, and unalienable rights, among which may be reckoned the right of enjoying and defending their lives and liberties; that of acquiring, possessing, and protecting property; in fine, that of seeking and obtaining their safety and happiness." (George A. Peek, Jr., ed., The Political Writings of John Adams, Liberal Arts press, New York, 1954, p 96, as quoted by W. Cleon Skousen in The 5000 Year Leap, p 96).