Dear Friends,
It seems to me, to believe that our Rights come from the State, is to believe in the absolute right of the State. The implication being, that we are merely the slaves of the state to be exploited and tossed away at the suffrage of our rulers, like any other inanimate object. Of course, if all human beings have no innate human Rights, is it logical that no human being can be a ruler, because if a human being is subservient to the state, then how can a human being rule the state? Making the idea that all human beings have no innate rights antithetical to the concept of government. Since government must be run by human beings, and if human beings are mere cogs, government cannot exist. A cog is unable to rule the piston, a ring is not justified in telling a cam what to do and a hose has no power to order a carburetor. Therefore, if the State is all powerful, then it cannot be run by human beings, to do so would be to elevate a sprocket to a god. The only philosophy that logically allows human government is that human beings have innate rights. Rights that emanate from nature or God but never the State.
The state is a mere fabrication of human beings, it does not exist outside of our minds, because nowhere in nature is there a state. Rocks don’t organize themselves into a hierarchy nor do cattle. To argue a wolf pack is essentially a state is as absurd as claiming a thug who takes a life is God. The concept of a state is purely a human idea. Many things are mere fabrications of human beings. Fiction for entertainment is one. Is it possible for an idea to have temporal power over a reality? How can a mere concept, a fantasy, be the progenitor of that which is real, like humanity or our rights? That is impossible. That would be like someone putting a rock on a pedestal and “interpreting” the stone’s will. Clearly a rock cannot have a will. Fantasies are not animate nor are they self aware. The state being a concept and not a real entity it cannot have a will, it cannot have compassion or self awareness. An idea is not alive as the state is not alive, only something that is real and preexists the real, can be the font of that which is real.
There is a long standing philosophical discussion whether our Rights come from God, natural law or the State. The implication of each argument is profound. If our Rights come from something that is not omnipotent but is a fantasy can they really exist? Rights with a capital R, are a superior attribute, a superior quality cannot be derived from mere imagination. Our Rights supersede laws, customs and moors, which in themselves are rules of a very high order, so to supersede rules of such importance, a Right must be superior, as far as respect for them goes. Therefore, for something as superior as Rights to be born of, that thing must be superior, omnipotent, else it cannot bestow such a superior thing as a Right, and if that is the State, then those rights come from fantasy. In other words, a cog who believes there is no such thing as innate rights, bestows rights upon other cogs, because they say they can. Obviously this begs the question and therefore is circular logic.
If you believe our Rights come from God, then God has Rights, and he has lent them to mankind. Only a thing that humanity, and indeed all things living and inanimate, derive from… can be the propagator of our Rights. He who created us is the only being that can bestow rights. If you don’t believe in God then our Rights must come from nature. If that is the case, all living creatures have Rights, moreover, those rights can be observed in the natural order. For example, every animal in existence has the Right to self defense, if that were not so, there would be animals that willingly feed themselves to their predators. We must have the Right to that which we create, else it would be observed in nature those things created by animals being magically whisked away, to another being. Since nature and God are adamant that the individual must have free will, as observed in nature, then free will must be an natural Right. All natural Rights can be described so.
If you believe our Rights come from government, and therefore in the absolute Right of the State, you believe in fairy tales. That a phantasm is the creator of the real. It is astounding that those who claim to be atheists would argue a fantasy is where their human Rights come from. No matter if you believe in God or not, you must believe in nature, else you are insane. Sadly, the circular logic that our Rights come from the state, a cog bestows rights to other cogs because it claims it can, seems to have great hold on a large portion of mankind. Such absurdity is the reason so much of human history is filled with violence, tyranny, suffering and disease. The ignorant belief in a fantasy, especially to claim such a superior thing as our innate Rights come from an illusion, is a sure path to catastrophe. To believe in the all powerful state is the same thing as believing in the all powerful and mighty Oz. Clearly, our Rights come from God and/or nature, and not the fantasy of the state.
Sincerely,
John Pepin
