Rights and Responsibility; these are very unique concepts. Still, they are both interwoven into the very fabric of our society. A right is a basic right of each and every citizen, given to people without question and assumed to be true among all people equally. Owning private property is a right, being able to dress how we want, drive what we want and utilize that which is available to us in a manner that we deem to be the best for us as individuals are all rights that we enjoy for the most part.
That is one of the key differences between our Constitutional Republic and a very poor form of government that is known as a democracy. It is also one of the reason I cringe in horror each time someone calls the USA a democracy. Our Founding Fathers warned us in no uncertain terms that to try and convert this Republic into a democracy would result in her death. As we were warned, it will be a very quick (in terms of historical passing of time) but agonizing and painful death for our nation. Sadly, that is seeming to come to pass. Still, that is not the point ... or at least not the entire point of this article.
Along with our rights, even within the Bill of Rights, comes a modicum of responsibility to which each individualmust be held personally accountable. However, we must remember that we are each accountable for our own actions and not those of others. Still, even this most basic concept is becoming ever more ambiguous and flawed as we continue to degrade this once great and proud Nation into the dying form of democracy which we are rapidly becoming. We all have a right to buy whatever clothes we want and to drive whatever car we want to, those are only to be expected though right? After all, we do live in a democracy right? No we do not, but it is becoming that way and I will explain why it is bad here.
In a democracy, the government could feasibly make all of these decisions for us. If you own a business, do you think that you would be better able to run the business or that the government would? Would you want the government to run your business or would you want to be able to run it yourself? Some people may actually answer and believe that they would rather have the government running it. More likely than not, they do not own a business. However, in what is becoming a democracy, we already have government running our businesses and creating a substantial amount of havoc by doing so.
Don't think so?
Naturally, we cannot allow a business to sell products that are clearly against the law. I would no more believe that someone had the right to open a heroin cafe any more than someone would be allowed to open a school to train thieves, or otherwise promote or commit illegal activities. Why not? Why should the government have any say at all?
Despite what is happening now, it used to be that laws were actually passed by representatives of the people. In our Constitutional Republic, that meant that the people actually decided what would and would not be legal. Therefore, the laws were established for a common good of the people, by the people and for the people. In our current delusional democracy, laws are created not only in the legislative branch by people who have no more sympathy or concern for the people but only a personal interest depending on who is lining their pockets on a particular weekday … but also by a judicial branch which has become increasingly comfortable creating legislation from the bench rather than simply looking at the constitutional legality of the laws it is trying.
The lack of concern for We The People could not be more apparent if they slapped us in the face. Dissenters, even quiet and peaceful ones who openly question such backroom, closed-door and private deals are frequently escorted out, left out of meetings altogether or summarily thrown in jail for exercising their legal right to dissent. But again, I allow the illegal actions of our federal government to interfere with and dilute my argument. Our federal government is already violating our rights, even in our own homes and in our own businesses. Property rights aside, if I have a legal and legitimate business than I have a legal right to run it how I see best fits my needs to earn money or lose money.
Given the state of American society, let us look at a rather historical institution of sorts in the USA: The Great American Drinking Establishments. Whether you partake in the consumption of refreshing alcoholic beverages or not, you have probably been to a bar at one time or another. Smoking may or may not have been permitted depending on where you were. But Wait! Prohibiting smoking in public places is an important government service to protect the people right? WRONG! MY BAR (My business establishment) is NOT public property. If I choose to allow smoking I have a fundamental RIGHT to allow whatever I see fit in MY establishment as long as it is not violating constitutional law. Still ok for them to do that you say?
DISCLAIMER!WARNING!
For those who may think I am racist based on the following concepts, please remember that I am currently living in a third world country by choice, I have lived in others and I speak four languages (or five if you include hillbilly as a language of its own). I am not in any way supportive of or personally a racist in any sense of the word! If I wish to limit who comes into my establishment I have a right to do that right! Or do I? As long as it is not offensive to anyone, I still do.
If I wish to have a club exclusively for people of color or for other minorities, the government will allow me to have that right. If I wish to have a club for gay or lesbian patrons I certainly have that right and it has been ruled as fully legal and constitutional by our Supreme Court. But those are good things right?
Let us look at it this way.
What "right" does the government have to decide what "rights" I may have and may not have? Owning a business is not a privilege but a Right that comes with many responsibilities. The government has NO RIGHT to say what I can and cannot do or allow as long as it violates no one else's rights and does not promote or involve itself in illegal activities as defined by We The People. I do not care who you are or what you are personally.
If you own a business you have a right to open it up to whomever you please, whenever you please and run it how you please. Your targeted market should be the only one who has ANY say in how you run your business. If you can make money and stay in business running an institution for retired Venusians prostitutes, than so be it. You have the right to pursue that business opportunity in whatever manner you see fit, and if you can find enough retired prostitutes from Venus, you will be able to stay in business and if you do not, than you will not make enough money and will not be around long anyhow.
The government has NO right to say you can or cannot open such a business.
Period!
There really is no difference in anything that the government gets involved in when it comes to the rights Of the People, By the People and For the People. Once we allowed them in the door they began taking our rights from us one at a time. We The People keep forfeiting our rights in the name of security, righting past wrongs and other real-good feel-good ideologies. One day soon, We the People will wake up too late to realize that we no longer have any rights left. For those individuals who do not think that it could ever happen in America, I urge you to look at what is happening today all around you.
Examine the documents the likes of Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto, My Struggle, (Also known as Mein Kampf) Chairman Mao’s little red book; take a good close look at what they all had in common. After you have read some of them, take a good hard look at what is going on around you now. In a Utopian world Socialism would probably be an ideal solution. We do not however, live in anything even close to a Utopian world. As long as we allow government to take control, take it they will. Then there will only be two classes of people left and no way to right the wrongs that have been done. The Have's will rule over the Have Nots until there is nothing left to rule. Only then will real change occur.
Stop and think about that next time you want or even willfully ask the government to take away the rights of We The People!
