Two Reasons Why Rights Do NOT Come From Government

Chapter 11.3: Where rights don’t come from, 1

Chapter 11.3

Where rights don’t come from

From a 36,000-foot perspective, we can break down the possible sources of rights into three categories:

1. Rights don’t come from anywhere, because they don’t exist.

2. Rights come from government.

3. Rights come from some source other than government.

“Rights don’t exist.”

It is difficult to argue that rights, in some form or other, do not exist. Even if only as a construct or a cultural phenomenon, rights are a real presence in our lives. We fight for them, ensconce them in law, and debate them endlessly. No one would fight this hard over something that does not exist. What they are and where they come from is the subject at hand, but they are, at very least, as real as any other social or cultural phenomenon.

For this reason, we will dispense with this category and focus on the main debate: