Where Rights Come From

I explain what rights are, and why they do not come from pieces of paper or men in uniforms with guns.

The argument I mention is N. Stephan Kinsella's Estoppel Argument. See http://www.mises.org/journals/jls/12_2/12_2_5.pdf

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• rights
• anarchy
• anarchism
• natural
• constitution
• police
• army
• morality

[lordmetroid]

I want to adress there is no rights. I don't think their are any default rights anyone have. We claim our own rights through interaction with people.

As you have noticed there are such a wide spread beliefe in what rights someone has there can not be any rights. Though I hold true that life, property and pursuit of happiness are among the spontaneous rights that will form naturally in society without people claiming such right as a result of 'game theory'.

[Franc28]

No, rights are not the result of society. I proved that with the desert island scenario.

[lordmetroid]

Maybe it sounded like I think rights is a result of society. But I really did not mean to try to imply that. I mean that people take their rights based on actions they perform. You take your right to control your body even on a desert island by your actions. And if their are more people on the island you would inform that that you have claimed the right to control your body if they thought otherwise.

[Franc28]

Yes, I agree.

[Jeremias1111]

Could you add your suggestion from the beginning of the video to the video description? I have problems to figure out the surname of that Steven. Thank you.

[Franc28]

Oh okay,

[BikerBry]

Naw, Rights are simpler than this. The founding Fathers were pretty good at explaining where rights came from and what they are. The Decoration of Independence states that our rights come from our creator. So, anything your creator gave you that you do, say, think is basically a right. Laws are there to infringe, restrict and take away certain rights. The Constitution was written so that many of these rights were protected FROM the government. No rights come from a piece of paper or another man

[brainpolice2]

That is a straw man, Todd. To ansswer it requires us to get into the nitty gritty of homesteading. No, you can't just claim ownership of an entire island if you don't actually use or homestead that entire island.

[DrTodd13]

Government cannot "take away your rights." They can only habitually infringe upon them.

This "I claim my rights" position is a slippery slope. If I don't say I own myself then can I be enslaved? If I can talk really fast and say I have a right to control everyone and everything on the island first, do I?

[brainpolice2]

I was refering to legal positivism, to be clear. But I agree with the sentiment here: you cannot be given a right to self-ownership externally, you already are a self-owner, and you cannot be given a right to property externally, you already have a right to that property which you homesteaded or voluntarily exchanged for.