circles around the question of rights. In a scientific sense rights do not exist. There is no particle that makes up a right. A right is not something that can be observed. We all believe they exist, and agree they exist, and even talk about them as if they exist, but then we say silly things about their source.
The American revolutionaries claimed their rights derived from God. This made sense in the 18th century when monarchs the world over claimed their own sovereignty and right to rule was derived from some Heavenly mandate. Your right to rule is derived from Heaven? So are our rights! What now King George? (war, apparently. Twice.) To say our rights came from the same authority claimed by kings and emperors who saw themselves as God’s lieutenants was part of our great republican ideological war against monarchy and privilege. While our revolutionary fervour has mostly subsided we still carry the revolution’s myths with us.
Other silly myths we tell ourselves about the source of our rights include those told by Libertarians - rights derive from self ownership. Because I own myself, no one else can tell me what to do with myself. In a disaster scenario if someone is dying of thirst and has an AK-47, and someone else has a bottle of water but no AK-47, there isn’t going to be a philosophical discussion about self ownership and the right to property. The one with the gun is getting that water bottle.
Self ownership, like Heavenly mandates, is a myth so far as being a source for, or protector of, our rights. There’s no Libertarian magic that protects our rights, and I think that there would have been a lot more lightning strikes during the Bush administration if rights were derived from, and protected by, Heaven.
Rights don’t come from God or from self ownership. They come from us. They are the basic rules we all agree should knit our society
16 June 2015
European Court of Human Right, Strasbourg
together. Since they’re things created by us, it’s up to us to protect them and make sure that everyone else is protected by them. They exist as an expression of our social values and beliefs, they vanish when society breaks down in scenarios of civil war or natural disaster.
Rights mean a sacrifice of power and authority by governments and the people who work for them. They mean constraining business and the privileged to prevent harm from coming to individuals. They also mean restraints on individuals. My right to swing my fist around ends where your personal space begins. Rights are difficult to get and difficult to keep because governments don’t like giving up power, and the privileged don’t like being equal to those who aren’t.
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