Answering Some Questions – Universal

Day 2 of answering questions posed by Diane Owens.

Question #2
What is something that is universal to ALL human beings?

Death.

And of course, my libertarian philosophy prompts me to say also that there are fundamental rights that all humans have. All humans, not just the ones who are citizens of the U.S. Which is to say, rights are not privileges granted or revoked by a government.

Rights are something all humans have, above or prior to government. Which is to say, government cannot give them to us and it cannot take them away. Yes, a government can infringe on the liberty to exercise one’s rights, but the rights remain regardless of government policy or action. Which means something a government grants you as a privilege to do or to have is not a right. For example, voting is not a right. Voting is a privilege.

And all humans having these rights means even the humans we do not like have them. Racists have them. Fascists have them. Socialists have them. Murderers have them. Terrorists have them. Even the rude people who talk during movies in the cinema have them.

I know this will annoy people of certain political philosophies, but fundamental is the right of property. At the heart of the philosophy in which I believe, is the concept that a person owns himself. Other rights stem from this. And the notion that I do not have the right to infringe your rights also stems from this.

I know this is a subject which people have argued for several hundred years, and maybe you, O reader, disagree with me. But this is my answer to the question. Self-ownership, and therefore basic human rights, belong to all human beings universally. No human has more rights or less rights than any other human.