Yeah about the only “unalienable” right that I can think of is that you have the right to think your own thoughts. Nobody can really take that away from you (well I guess people can incapacitate or kill you, or drug or torture you to affect your thought processes… so maybe it’s not as unalienable as I first thought).
“Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” also seem rather ill-defined to me. Liberty, in particular - what kinds of freedoms are wrapped up in that term?
If I were to try to lay out some fundamental freedoms/rights for a “good” society though, as @Velocity asked, it would probably include:
- freedom from unwanted physical harm - I think most societies have laws against physically harming others for good reason, though some societies allow it as a punishment for breaking other rules
- right to equal application of the law - I think this is key to a “free and fair society” - no kangaroo courts is the big thing, and lawmakers should strive to write laws that don’t have discrimination baked into them (probably harder than it sounds though)
- right to participate in the political process - I think this is not needed for a theoretical “good” or “fair” society (could have a good society with an enlightened despot), but is needed for a “free” society IMO
And rights for which I think significant restrictions/limitations are required, but for which I think societies should have as underlying values:
4) right to own property (basically needed for any form of capitalism - it wouldn’t be needed under pure communism but I don’t think that’s realistically achievable) - I think there are all sorts of limitations that can be put on this right (eg. taxes, etc.) but I think the idea of property is integral to any sort of commerce occurring
5) freedom of speech - this is the trickiest one, as I think restrictions on speech are generally acceptable, but also that a society which, say, only allows certain government officials to ever speak publicly and all other public expression is banned wouldn’t be considered very “free” to me.
I think any society whose laws don’t allow for #1-3 wouldn’t be considered a “free and fair” society in my completely subjective opinion, and I think a society should fundamentally value #4 and 5 even though the application of those would be nuanced. I’m not even sure if I consider freedom of assembly to be a necessity, though I would expect that most societies would have laws that protect it in some form.