The Right to Have Rights

For our forefathers, the primary reason for establishing our country and our system of laws was to secure the fundamental rights of the people against the interference of individuals or the government itself.

And yet, that is not what is happening today. Powerful minority interests and state legislatures are now stripping away the individual freedoms of women, parents, children, and others while granting unrestricted rights to gun owners and special constituencies. Thus, some of the rights that Americans hold most dear – to vote, to learn, to express oneself, or to have control over one’s body – are, in fact, being taken away.

We are now at a fork in the road. Democracy flourishes when the rights of Americans to live, love and be healthy are respected and protected. But, if essential rights are viewed as a zero-sum game of winners and losers, democracy is doomed and so are we.

In short, the right to have rights is what freedom is all about.