Althouse: "[T]hey are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

July 4, 2011

"[T]hey are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Among these...

So there are others.

What other inalienable rights would you like to call to our attention today?

56 comments:

Anonymous said...: A right to privacy.

I know the phrase does not appear in the bill of rights, but IMO the bill of rights is itself a description of the right to privacy.

As you suggest, our various founding document also state that we have rights not specifically listed, thus rendering the court's typical position that the government may do whatever is not denied it by the constitution nothing short of judicial malpractice.; 7/4/11, 7:23 AM
vet66 said...: The right to be held personally accountable for ensuring these universal rights are nurtured and recognized as the intrinsic values accorded all. Inalienable rights do not come cheap.

Independence Day! Not just for Republicans...; 7/4/11, 7:25 AM
JohnnyT1948 said...: I don't believe the founding fathers were considering collective bargaining for government unions or the right to an abortion as being among those certain unalienable rights. And notice that the Right is listed as "pursuit of Happiness." The Creator does not consider Happiness to be one of the "certain unalienable Rights."; 7/4/11, 7:25 AM
peacelovewoodstock said...: The right to disdain any compulsion to act.

I don't mind government telling me what I cannot do, within reason, but my Creator has granted me the right to ignore any government order to do any particular thing.

Such as purchase health insurance.; 7/4/11, 7:29 AM
G Joubert said...: A guaranteed lifetime of public employment, with humongous perks and bennies that go on and on and in perpituity.; 7/4/11, 7:34 AM
ndspinelli said...: The right to silence. Our culture has become too loud; including, but not limited to, whegroes driving around in 15 year old cars w/ speakers more costly than the vehicle, blaring hip hop horseshit and shaking the sidewalk.; 7/4/11, 7:37 AM
Paddy O said...: to sing!; 7/4/11, 7:47 AM
Hagar said...: I think it prophetic that for the founder of the Democratic Party, the removal of our property was essential to his pursuit of happiness!; 7/4/11, 7:51 AM
MikeR said...: All these posts with no links? Really, Ann, you're being a little careless today. How is anyone supposed to know where these quotes come from?

I guess there's always Google.; 7/4/11, 7:52 AM
chuckR said...: If you take the square root of the age of the Declaration of Independence, you get Ezra Klein's Constitutional IQ.; 7/4/11, 8:13 AM
Roadkill said...: Private Property - the right that brings with it innovation, industry, and economic prosperity.; 7/4/11, 8:18 AM
C R Krieger said...: Speech.

Regards — Cliff; 7/4/11, 8:18 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: Swearing.

We have always been a cantankerous-assed motherfucking people and, godammit, as far as I'm concerned, we will always BE a cantankerous-assed motherfucking people.

These sombitch politicians should NEVER look out over the American people and see someone they can "handle." They should see the people who put them there, and they'd better be one of us, or know what for, or else.

That last go 'round was a perfect example of how it's NOT to be done.; 7/4/11, 8:35 AM
Anonymous said...: I believe the Founders were speaking specifically of property.

However, they couldn't go there at the time, due to the damn slave owners and their "property".; 7/4/11, 8:43 AM
MayBee said...: The right to health care.
The right to collective bargaining.
The right to have everybody like the group you consider yourself to be a part of.; 7/4/11, 8:47 AM
Anonymous said...: I would argue another inalienable right is the right to follow your conscience and act in good faith.

That would include the right to rescue someone in peril, protect yourself and others from immediate danger, give freely of property and services to those in need-

I draw your attention to two recent incidents where public servants refused to aid victims of drowning due to union rules and bureaucratic regulations.; 7/4/11, 8:55 AM
Anonymous said...: Apologies in advance for the sudden change in tone-

How about the right to wipe your ass in Obama's new world?; 7/4/11, 9:14 AM
traditionalguy said...: Free use of air without an EPA permit.; 7/4/11, 9:20 AM
Mickey said...: I was watching the Blu Ray of Short Circuit 2 today and, when Johnny Five realizes someone is trying to sell him, he says he was endowed by his creator with certain unalienable rights. A tear started to come to my eye, it being the 4th and all.

I really want to see him waving a Gadsden flag yelling, "Johny Five... is ALLIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVVVVEE!!!"; 7/4/11, 9:23 AM
Meade said...: The right to wear shorts.; 7/4/11, 9:28 AM
bagoh20 said...: The right to enjoy the land, water and air.

We have too many gates, fees and cops restricting access to our physical inheritance. This and privacy are the two rights we are losing the fastest.

And abortion has nothing to do with privacy.; 7/4/11, 9:42 AM
bagoh20 said...: I would like to see a mob of men in shorts picketing Meadehouse. Surely there are enough of you locals to do this.; 7/4/11, 9:44 AM
somefeller said...: The right to enjoy the land, water and air. We have too many gates, fees and cops restricting access to our physical inheritance.

Signs, signs, everywhere are signs. Well, Upkeep of land isn't cheap, so it needs to be managed and paid for somehow. And unless you or your family own that land, how is it part of your physical inheritance?; 7/4/11, 9:56 AM
Ann Althouse said...: You do have the right to wear shorts, just as I have the right to think and say that you look like an enlarged child.; 7/4/11, 9:58 AM
c71ff said...: Um... free WiFi?
/; 7/4/11, 9:58 AM
Roy Lofquist said...: "just as I have the right to think and say that you look like an enlarged child."

Ann Althouse

"Ah, but I was so mush older then. I'm younger than that now."

Anonymous; 7/4/11, 10:25 AM
edutcher said...: The right to say, view, or put up something and not have some Lefty judge order it removed because some Lefty is "offended".

PS Disagree with timmaguire. There's a right to be secure in one's person, houses, papers and effects from unreasonable search and seizure.

You want a right to privacy? Pass an amendment that states it specifically in black and white, and not something based on the musings of Louis Brandeis in a Court decision.; 7/4/11, 10:35 AM
khematite@aol.com said...: All the rights embodied in the Ninth Amendment. Randy Barnett can tell you what they are.; 7/4/11, 10:42 AM
Anonymous said...: Actually, those three are about it.

At least, I've yet to hear of any government anywhere, set up on a different set of rights ("liberty, egality, fraternity" anyone?) that's done nearly as well as the US has.

And all the reasonable suggestions here have fallen under LL & PH; 7/4/11, 10:52 AM
Big Mike said...: What other inalienable rights would you like to call to our attention today?

The right to self-defense.; 7/4/11, 11:00 AM
Unknown said...: I think the reference was a nod the Locke ("life, liberty and property"). Since then the idea of "property" ownership being a right has been added to the Bill of Rights and the 14th Amd.

The other right everyone has is also in the BOR--the right to self defense. I'd argue that is the most basic and fundamental of all.; 7/4/11, 11:01 AM
edutcher said...: A lot of passages in the Declaration is lifted directly from Locke.; 7/4/11, 11:03 AM
Kirk Parker said...: Self defense.; 7/4/11, 11:09 AM
Saint Croix said...: A right to privacy.

That wouldn't irritate me so much if liberals had a bit more respect for a baby's right to live.; 7/4/11, 11:12 AM
Anonymous said...: Freedom to hate the government.

gregg, did you know that the original slogan was "liberte, egalite, fraternite, ou la mort"?

"Or death."

It was airbrushed out some time later. Now the French Revolution and its successors in communism, for example, make sense.; 7/4/11, 11:12 AM
Saint Croix said...: I think we have an inalienable right not to be defined as sub-human by the government.; 7/4/11, 11:13 AM
Saint Croix said...: What is fascinating, and scary, is how rights are twisted to give more authority to the government.

In our Constitution we name rights that cannot be abridged by the government. The idea is to limit the government, and the power the government holds over us.

Now liberals urge our unelected branch to create new rights, and dictate those rights to us.

Our abortion rules were dictated to us by seven men in 1973.

You hear liberals talk about a right to health care. Or a right to housing. A right to welfare.

The idea is that once five or more unelected people declare this right, then we cannot change it.

One of our most basic rights--the freedom to form our own government--is lost.; 7/4/11, 11:25 AM
Godot said...: To abolish their government and institute new safeguards for their liberty.
-; 7/4/11, 11:54 AM
caseym54 said...: to have an established rule for behavior in every possible situation; 7/4/11, 12:00 PM
Meade said...: Your right to think and say that I look like an enlarged child ends at my knees.; 7/4/11, 12:09 PM
Anonymous said...: Maybe we need to distinguish unalienable rights from all others.

"Unalienable Rights" are natural rights...

rights of every man that cannot be abridged by another man.

As to the Constitution, the Bill Of Rights are the rights of every man that cannot be abridged by the government.

That is my view...; 7/4/11, 12:12 PM
Richard's Secret said...: Crack EMCee said...
we have always been a cantankerous-assed motherfucking people
AMEN.

But I would add the government should FEAR the people as well. Don't tread on ME. MF'rs.; 7/4/11, 12:37 PM
bagoh20 said...: "And unless you or your family own that land, how is it part of your physical inheritance?"

Of course private is private, but private lands at the moment are more accessible than public lands, and public land IS our inheritance, which I do pay for.

Restrictions are usually based on keeping assholes from messing up the place, but also often "just in case", and "because we can".

I would prefer enforcement and serious penalties for damaging public lands, but right now the first response is to lock everybody out.

An American should be able to walk through his land. Is there anything that could be more of an unalienable right than the right to move freely and peacefully about the world. Without that, we are livestock.; 7/4/11, 12:44 PM
Phil 314 said...: the right to fail; 7/4/11, 12:55 PM
Joanna said...: Well said, Phil 3:14. Well said.; 7/4/11, 1:29 PM
Anonymous said...: I leave you with the right to exist..; 7/4/11, 1:36 PM
Eddie said...: Incandescent bulbs.; 7/4/11, 2:19 PM
Bob Ellison said...: It's like the three-wishes grant from a genii. "For my first wish, I'll take a thousand more wishes!"

So like any good liberal, I'll take the right to re-define "right".; 7/4/11, 2:31 PM
cold pizza said...: The right to be left alone, to make choices--ALL choices--and to accept the consequences of said choices. To live within the social compact, freely partaking of the community while contributing value back for value received. I have a right to light my house with whatever bulb I see fit, that suits my needs, with a willingness to pay someone else for the current.

I do not have the right to demand someone else pay my way through life. If I need help, I turn to family, church and community; asking for aid but not demanding it as due because a quirk of birthright.

I have a right to eat pizza for breakfast. -cp

wv: "facqu," and the harse ya rid in on.; 7/4/11, 2:34 PM
MDIJim said...: "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" versus "liberty, equality and fraternity" pretty much sums up the political divide these days, does it not?; 7/4/11, 3:54 PM
Bart Hall (Kansas, USA) said...: May we begin, please, with "happiness?" In the 18th Century it had a very different meaning than it does today, more akin to blessedness. Read many translations of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. They say "happy."

It all comes from the Greek μάκαρ (makar) blessed, or in right relationship with God. One key inalienable right was that of pursuing a right relationship with God, which presages rather deeply the First Amendment.

The overarching inalienable right is that of being left alone. Apart from trial by jury, which may require me to serve on said jury, no enumerated right requires me to do anything besides leave other people alone. The converse as well ... pertains.; 7/4/11, 5:42 PM
Opus One Media said...: just a few inalienable rights....but I digress.

just passing through.; 7/4/11, 7:37 PM
Rialby said...: The right not to have Lefties tell me if I am fat I have to go to Weight Watchers. Notice I said Lefties not Liberals. The two are no longer the same thing.; 7/4/11, 8:31 PM
Jane said...: Property.

Required reading for high school students in our local public schools is a book on how it would be great if we abolished private property.; 7/4/11, 10:01 PM
traditionalguy said...: You hear 90% of the quotes say "inalienable rights". But the document says and means "unalienable rights". An in-alienable right cannot be taken from us, all well and good. But an un-alienable right cannot be given away by us either. That's far better because we be bribed into selling our rights away if that was possible for us to do it.; 7/4/11, 11:46 PM
AlanKH said...: Freedom from public education. All too often, whoever happens to be in power uses schools as propaganda machines.; 7/5/11, 10:37 AM