Every election cycle we hear hear politicians, especially those on the Left, inventing a new list of “rights” for each and every citizen. Following in the political tradition of FDR, they declare

the right to a good education…

the right to healthcare (Obamacare)…

the right to own a home…

the right to a good paying job…

and the list continues to grow with each passing year. In fact, what decent person could argue against the pursuit of each of these noble political aspirations?

But herein lays the problem. None of the aforementioned political goals is properly defined as a “right.” When our Founders drafted our Declaration of Independence, they had a clear understanding of the meaning and source of the rights of all men. In the words of our framers,

“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…”

In fact, Thomas Jefferson went on to say, “We do not claim these [inalienable rights] under the charters of kings or legislators, but under the King of Kings.”

If a “right” depends upon someone else’s money, service or work it’s not a right. It is properly a “good.” Take education for an example. People have the God-given right NOT to be prevented from pursuing a good education; however, they do not have the right to that education. Why? Because an education is dependent upon the labor or others to provide that training.

You have the God-given right to your own goods, however, you do not have the right to someone else’s goods. Claiming the “right” to the property of another is called stealing!

Let’s look at the current “right” to healthcare. While this remains a noble goal, you’ll eventually have to rob or enslave some citizens (e.g. the individual mandate) to secure this “right” for others. Rights are not entitlements.

When goods are required from someone else to secure your “rights” you can be sure that someone else’s inalienable rights are being violated. As author Neil Mammon rightly observes, “Goods that are granted as rights require you to enslave…some men fiscally or physically to ensure a continuous supply of the goods you have promised to other men.”

Consider the right to bear arms found in the 2nd Amendment. Do people have the God-given right to protect themselves and their loved ones? Absolutely. To secure this right we must be able to arm ourselves. However the right to bear arms is not the same as a free government provided gun for every American!

This right to bear arms must never be subjected to the approval of a government or allowed to be restricted in any way. Technically speaking, this right, and all God-given rights for that matter, can never be taken away from us, but governments continually work to keep us from the free exercise of those rights.

Politics is concerned with protecting the rights of its citizens…

Our inalienable rights come from God…

Therefore, politics must be concerned with knowing the One, True God.

Any suggestion of a total separation of Church and State, as opposed to the institutional separation conceived by our Founders, results in the loss of our sacred liberties. Politicians who either don’t know or altogether reject God are the greatest threats to our liberties.