Do you really think that was my point?
No, every single one of them do. Shodan already answered this, but just to reiterate, the government has no rights. Neither does my blender. People have rights.
To echo Shodan, one of us isn’t, that seems certain. “Search and seizure” is not a right, it’s an offense against a right, one that still exists on a desert island–the right to be left alone when offering no provocation. I have the right to bear arms on an island. I haven’t lost that right because guns aren’t available. The right to do something doesn’t mean a guarantee you can. “Due process,” if we define this as a right, still exists on a desert island. It’s the right not to be subjected to the will of the majority without due diligence being exercised in minimizing that disruption. Same for “trial by jury.” (I’d argue that both of these are more social constructs than true rights.) In any event, all of these are essentially the right to be left the @#$% alone.
Nope. Governments may as a practical matter recognize rights. But they don’t create them.
They do have that right. It is routinely violated. They have that right because all people have the right to be left alone to express their own thoughts, provided that expression creates no undue problems for others. No, you don’t get to shout “fire” in a crowded theater for the sport of it. You do get to express your opinion. Or you should, including the Chinese. Because we all have the right to be left alone.
I honestly don’t know why you keep bringing up this Creator stuff. The idea that all men have basic inalienable rights is the basic tenet of having civilized society. It is to balance the notion of free will against living in and interacting with other people. Basically, re-read Sam Stone’s post. It’s like saying that supply can exist without demand. I remember from my history classes that the 1700-1800s was a time when feudalism as a political force was ending, great empires were ending. The new governments at the time were fooling around with mercantilism, practical applications of freedom/enlightenment, and just beginning to understand the tenets of free trade. The old ways of feudalism and slavery had not died yet. There had to be serious compromises made in order to form this union. Look at the fate of the Continental Congress and those efforts. It is not that we are all smarter that we can now have access to health care, it’s because we are wealthy. The argument you make is not one of enlightenment, but rather of wealth distribution. That’s fine and all, if you can square it away with this notion of basic inalienable rights, which I, and many others, do not think is possible.
You’re all over the place, aren’t you? Do you think anyone disagrees with the notion that we all have the right to pursue our own health care? Why do you keep coming back to this as if anyone disagrees with it? That right already exists. We may all purchase our own health care as we wish, to the extent our resources permit it. We should all be left alone to make and execute such decisions. The OP asserts that UHC is a birthright. UHC, by definition, means the government will provide it where it can’t be obtained by someone. That’s something different entirely. UHC actually means something. It doesn’t mean what you’d prefer it did.
To repeat, so that you don’t offer this blather yet one more time, no one (me included) has suggested in this thread that the right to pursue one’s health care, as one sees fit, to the extent one’s resources permit, is not as it should be. That’s a damned fine right, one that already exists. It is NOT UHC.
emacknight, I would really like to know if you understand the distinction between an active and a passive right.
Regards,
Shodan
Yes I do.
Very good. Are you suggesting that health care is an active right, or a passive right?
Regards,
Shodan
Passive.
If it’s passive, how to you ensure the universal access you claim is fundamental to this right?
The same way we do for the other passive rights.
We do not guarantee universal access for passive rights like gun ownership or free speech.
Regards,
Shodan
So?