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To: ClearCase_guy
-- Rights come from God. They exist, and there is nothing any human can do about that. --

Here on earth, the ability to exercise rights is always a struggle, as you point out.

-- They are inalienable. --

That word, "inalienable," is often held as some talisman, almost "religious" significance. But really, it's just an adjective, like "blue" or "heavy."

Some things can be alienated. You can alienate your car, your house, your money, and pretty much any possession. Basically meaning you can transfer control over it (possession, the right to exclude, etc.) to somebody else. But it is simply impossible to transfer your life to somebody else - making life "inalienable."

When one reads the Declaration of Independence in that light, it doesn't lose any of its rhetorical power.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. -- That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, -- That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

I don't know about you, but I am way past "consent of the governed." I give the government the same legitimacy as I give the mafia. The government is dishonest, it is corrupt, it has vastly exceeded the powers granted to it, and it maintains control by brute force. While the government does exercise some "just powers," in the balance, it is and has been destructive of the things that made the US a good and strong country.

19 posted on 10/01/2011 5:59:55 AM PDT by Cboldt
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To: Cboldt

Concur


26 posted on 10/01/2011 6:31:57 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (The USSR spent itself into bankruptcy and collapsed -- and aren't we on the same path now?)
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To: Cboldt
But really, it's just an adjective, like "blue" or "heavy."

Actually, it's a legal term meaning 'non transferable'.

It's what they've done. They've used licensing [legal definition; governmental permission] in order to 'legally' carry a firearm.

Once you've gotten that permission, you've become legally obligated to follow their rules.

It's how they turn a Right into a privilege.

----

For a real eye opener, try Invisible Contracts by George Mercier

31 posted on 10/01/2011 7:09:48 AM PDT by MamaTexan (I am ~Person~ as created by the Law of Nature, not a 'person' as created by the laws of Man)
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