Rights

Matthew Hoy
By Matthew Hoy on March 14, 2010

Economist Walter E. Williams has a succinct piece on the nature of fundamental human rights. Guess what? Health care and Internet access aren’t among them.

True rights, such as those in our Constitution, or those considered to be natural or human rights, exist simultaneously among people. That means exercise of a right by one person does not diminish those held by another. In other words, my rights to speech or travel impose no obligations on another except those of non-interference. If we apply ideas behind rights to health care to my rights to speech or travel, my free speech rights would require government-imposed obligations on others to provide me with an auditorium, television studio or radio station. My right to travel freely would require government-imposed obligations on others to provide me with airfare and hotel accommodations.

Read the whole thing.

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