Life, Liberty, and Whatnot

So we read the Declaration of Independence, this week, for Government. One of the revolutionary ideas of the Declaration, according to Dr. Holzapfel, is the concept of natural rights, inalienable rights that exist whether or not a government chooses to bestow them on you.

But, wait, if these truths are "self-evident" why do so many people disagree as to what's a right and what's not? I, personally, don't believe in positive rights, things the government is obliged to do for you. I don't believe in a right to health care, for example. You don't need resources to provide rights, you don't have to pay for them, you can't give a right. They're in the fabric of the world.

But then again, some people do believe in positive rights like health care, and who's to say I'm right and they're wrong? If I continue down that line of reasoning, though, I get knotted up inside and feel the urge to go down to the bottom floor of the library and lay down between the shelves in political science where I'm alone and deep underground. Who's to say this, who's to say that... Who's to say there are inalienable rights at all?

I'm to say, that's who. And millions of other people too, but I believe that even if no one in the entire world believed in the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness those rights would still exist. I believe that God built them into the bones of the world, and even if you can't see God you can see those bones. I believe in Truth even if I don't know what it is.

So, yeah, rock on Thomas Jefferson.