@Mister D is a defender of the faith. :smiley:
Printable View
@Mister D is a defender of the faith. :smiley:
You're not responding at all to my argument.
Let's do this again. Let's look at the Declaration where life, liberty and porperty (happiness) are found:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
You have rights as a member of the people.
Disagree? Then show us where in that passage individual rights are mentioned?
IIRC, Jefferson, cribbing Locke, originally wrote property and it was edited committee to happiness. Not sure why, see James Madison on Property and what it meant back then.
I have no need to look to other authorities. We have rights as individuals because we exist as individuals. We are equal before the law. Our equality before the law accrues to each of us as individuals. Some rights, for example, the right to create a government requires more than one individual. It makes no sense to think of an individual forming a government.