The Concept Of Individual Rights

Deborah Venable

02/21/03

Believe it or not, it has recently occurred to me that while many patriotic Americans use the words, “individual rights” quite liberally, (no pun intended), it is entirely possible that too few people of all philosophical and religious beliefs have no idea what those two words used together actually mean. Since the American ideal was formulated and born into existence solely to support the concept of individual rights, it is imperative that all Americans are on the same page as we try to restore that American ideal and save our America.

The concept of individual rights is not descriptive of selfish attitudes and does not encourage a superior collective power to enforce. Individual rights cannot be effectively used collectively because in trying to do so, the rights are naturally infringed. I think this is what both the Creator and our own Founding Fathers tried to teach us – but we failed to learn. We cannot have these individual rights taken away from us as individuals, but some can voluntarily give them up for all of us collectively. That is what has happened since the beginning of time. Thus, if we remain part of any collective group, some in that group will shatter the concept of individual rights and destroy the American ideal.

What do I mean by “collective group”? Simple. Any group that assigns the rights of the group above those of the individual is a “collective group” that is doomed to fail. If you are already shaking your head, let me explain further. The simplest group in humanity is the family. The main force of strength in a family comes from the dedication of each to each of the others. This is a group, but not a collective group unless and until the family becomes more important than each of the individuals. This is certainly not uncommon, but it runs counter to the welfare of each individual, therefore, to the family itself. We currently see this happening within political parties as well. This may be hard to understand – especially where the smaller group or family is concerned, but it is very true none-the-less.

The family is only as strong as the respect for the individual rights of its weakest member. This definition may be applied to ANY group! The following paragraph speaks specifically to a group of adults when talking about voluntarily relinquishing rights. Unfortunately for a very large number of children, the adults responsible for them all too often make decisions, which ultimately cause their rights to be relinquished.

Remember, we are talking about individual rights, which are most definitely NOT dependent on the greater good of the group. This is the most obvious flaw in socialist and communist philosophy and the reason why these philosophies will always fail eventually. These rights pre-date any other human accomplishment or consideration. Each and every human being from the time of conception has the God given rights to life itself, to freedom from control of others, and to pursue happiness. These rights may be relinquished at any time, voluntarily, but they may never be taken away. Our own actions determine whether or not we decide to relinquish any of them voluntarily. Others’ actions may decide whether they or anyone else will try to take them away from us. If we try to defend these rights on anything but an individual basis, we run the risk of relinquishing them voluntarily. By the same token, anyone who tries to take them will almost always try to justify this action with a “for the greater good” argument. Believe me, folks, this argument falls on its face in the light of logic.

Unfortunately, human beings seldom make the necessary painful effort to understand what makes the human animal tick. We try to set ourselves up as gods instead of being perfectly happy with our own humanity. Contained within each and every one of us is all we really need to be free and happy and alive! We do NOT need to be in control of another human being, nor do we need to be a part of any collective group more complicated than that of the species to which we belong. That is how we are made. I believe that is precisely what God and our Founders tried to teach us. My own father understood it too. When I was a very small child, he told me that if I was to remember only one thing he would ever teach me, it should be this: He said, “Never, NEVER let another human being intimidate you – not EVER.”

Anyone who has ever been a parent knows that the hardest thing to teach a child is the lesson of self-control. The parent who sets about this task by trying to exert total control over a child will fail in this teaching. Granted, as parents we are expected to control the behavior of our children, but that does not mean that our control of them should ever be complete. They must be allowed to experience the results of their own actions in order to complete the cycle of learning that will make them responsible for their own well being and that of everyone around them. In other words, there are some lessons that we just have to learn for ourselves. By the same token, there are many lessons that can then be learned without having to experience negative results. As parents, we strive to develop a mutual trust with our children so that they will look upon us as credible teachers of these truths that need not be paid for with negative experience. From all these lessons we should take away a basic knowledge of and ability for self-control.

What has happened, especially in the last sixty or so years, is that government has tried to be a controlling parent – unwilling to let us learn the lessons of fending for ourselves and each other – and trying to take care of our every need for security. This has come at a terrible price of our liberties and our knowledge. Ask the average American what the reference to individual rights means and you may get an answer that reflects the Roosevelt New Deal policies of serving a perceived right to food, shelter, and a job for every American. Nothing could be further from our Founders’ intent, and nothing could be further from God’s teachings. These things do not come free. If you expect these sorts of “rights” you will pay with your own independence, and what is even worse – you will pay with mine!

Socialist and communist philosophies accept the idea that no individual is worth more than the collective group. It naturally follows that no individual is worth more than the leaders of that group, then, and this should be abundantly obvious. We cannot save the American ideal in such an environment of socialism because the American ideal flies in the face of such skewed logic. The legitimate, unalienable rights of each individual must be considered ahead of any group or any government if individual liberty is to survive. Only in an atmosphere of such liberty can we expect strong moral fiber to prevail within the group or the government. It is the stuff that formed America, and it is the stuff that served her well and served the world well. Without such an America, the world would be a very different place today. Without such people committed to the ideals and the life of freedom as a vision for all the world to witness and envy, humanity would be hopelessly enslaved to its own corruption. Socialism and communism do not value the individual – they only wish to dominate the human spirit and divide the fruits from efforts of the many among the total domination of the few. There are no individual dreams in such an existence that are not tied to escaping the dominance through service to it.

Christian charity teaches us to willingly give of ourselves to help our fellow man – it does not teach us to serve any authority other than our Creator. We cannot willingly give anything to a mandate, for the knowledge that it will be taken if we do not give is always there. How willingly, therefore, can we do great deeds to help our fellow humans if we are forced to give the fruits of our labors to those we do not even know? Coerced “charity” is not charity at all. Administration costs for coerced charity take most of what could be used by those who need it and leave us unwilling or unable to contribute willingly on our own outside of that which has been taken forcibly from us. Those bleeding souls who clamor about poverty in the world and in our own country do not truly care about these poor human souls in real need. They care only about controlling the masses of producers and directing their ever dwindling wealth into a series of administrative coffers which in turn empowers them to direct the actions of all – needy and wealthy alike. This is not spawned of Christian charity – it is directed by a greedy pursuit of power.

In order to reinstate the American ideal and the true concept of individual rights, we must never, NEVER allow ourselves to be intimidated by other human beings, by collective group ideas, or by government as an illegitimate parent to us all. Saving America is just that simple – and it is just that difficult a lesson to learn. If we approach every debate with the knowledge of this concept of individual rights, we can and will be victorious in preserving them. If we relinquish these rights, we have no claim to everything good about America that so many have sacrificed so much to preserve.

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