What is a 'Right'

There seems to be a lot of confusion about what is and isn't a 'Right'. Specifically there are a lot of people saying that insurance or health care is a right and should therefore be provided by the government in some form or fashion. But that's not what 'rights' are.

It is not the government's job to 'provide' you your Rights .... in fact your Rights do not come from government in the first place. Your 'Rights' are natural, the Constitution does not grant us rights it protects our natural rights from government interference. It binds the government and forbids it from certain actions.

The Right to Free Speech - I've discussed this one before. The protects the citizen speaker from prosecution BY THE GOVERNMENT for speaking against the government. It does not protect the speaker from the repercussions of what they say by other private citizens (provided those citizens don't cause harm). If I walk into a business and start spouting off about how the business owner is a bad person and no one should shop there because their prices are higher than I think they should be. The business is well within it's rights to remove me (even force-ably as once they ask me to leave I'm trespassing on private property if I stay) and can call the police to have me removed (due to the trespassing mentioned previously) and they are not violating my right to free speech.

Students at a college or university certainly have the Right to protest a speaker, though once they start becoming violent and creating a hazardous situation they have exited the realm of free speech. Students in such situations, however, would be better served to welcome the free flow and discussion of ideas, and particularly ideas that they may currently disagree with. This is part of learning - accepting the fact that you do not know everything. There are many in this country now, however, that dislike the idea of free speech or who support free speech .... as long as they approve of the speech. (That is to say they think that's what they want until someone else has the power and no longer approves of their speech)

Likewise, the right to free speech does not mean that the government or any individual has to GIVE me the means of expressing that speech. No one has to provide a microphone, megaphone, or stage for me. No one has to listen to me and are free to ignore me as they please. Even the government doesn't have to listen they just aren't allowed to punish me for expressing my opinion.

The Right to Bare Arms - I've also talked about this one I believe. I have the right to own weapons to protect myself, my property, and others, from all threats including the government itself. The government can not take that away (though many in the government would love to do so) but neither the government nor any other citizen has to GIVE me the weapons in question. It's up to ME to obtain them, maintain them, and be able to use them.

The 'Right' to Health Care (or Health Insurance) - I put this one in quotes as it is technically not protected directly in the Constitution, but I will agree that it is not the governments job to prevent or stop anyone from receiving health care or health insurance. But it's also not the government's job to PROVIDE health care or health insurance either, just as the government does not provide Weapons for the Right to Bare Arms or the stage for the Right to Free Speech. The only way for them to do so would be to FORCE another citizen to provide it ... no 'Right' can include the compulsion of another person to provide services to another. None of us has a 'Right' to the life or services of another human period.

I suspect by now that you've probably noticed a trend in the conversation.....

The 'Right' to Immigration - This just flat doesn't exist. Every country has the right to control its boarders. Including, but not limited to the ability to CLOSE THEM to immigration completely. However, no one wants to do that in the US. Neither side of the argument wants to stop immigrants from being able to come to this country and live and work for a better life. What many of us want, however, is an end to ILLEGAL immigration. Which is to say that we want ALL people from outside this country that wish to come here and live and work to go through the properly defined legal procedures and checks to make sure that they would be a solid citizen, a positive addition to the country.

I highlight the 'all' above because there is a perception in the media that Mexican or Hispanic illegals are the only ones anyone is concerned about. And owing to conditions in Mexico and Central and South America, that is a large percentage of the illegal population in the US, but they are not all by any means and all illegal immigration needs to be addressed. We will not stop all illegal immigration, but we need to find a much better means of dealing with it, and giving amnesty is not the answer.

There is no easy answer to such a question, there never is. No matter what the press will be full of heart wrenching stories of families being broken up, or loved ones being left out and facing hardships. Some will even be true while others nothing more than attempts to sway public opinion through emotion rather than rational application of law / logic.

Decisions, however, should rarely be made on emotion, and law is rarely a good one size fits all solution. (Zero tolerance = zero thought). Each case is decision that should be approached with logic and thought on its own. Those who want to come here, who want to work and be responsible for their own future should be welcomed, if they originally came here illegally that needs to be considered and they should not be placed (as they currently often are) in front of people who have shown the respect to the laws of this land and followed the proper legal channels.

No one has the Right to just go and live in whatever country they want. Don't believe me? Try going into Iran illegally. Heck try France or Italy, and try to live there as an illegal immigrant and see how that works for you. While many of these countries are welcoming of foreign visitors, most of them have strict immigration policies with very definite penalties for people that over stay their visa or cross the boarder illegally. Borders and laws are what defines a Country, do away with our borders and we'll very quickly find that we no longer have a country .... part of having a border means controlling it ... part of controlling it is defining who is allowed to cross that border, when, and for how long.

I personally am sick of being called 'anti-immigration' because I believe that we need to find a way to curtail ILLEGAL immigration. I'm sick of being called a 'racist' because I believe that as a country we need to exercise control over our border. I am sick of being called 'hate filled' because I don't believe that people who have broken our laws should be subject to the penalties of breaking those laws. .... That is how we ended up with the President we did, because I'm not alone, and while I didn't vote for him, a lot of people fed up with the idea that if you aren't 'pro-illegal-immigration' you're 'anti-immigration' or 'racist' or worse.

In the end, the media is to blame. They play their game of manipulation pitting friend against friend over the stupidest of differences and the masses dance to their tune every day.