“Whenever someone must buy a license or pay a fee to exercise a right, then it is something less than a right. It is in fact a mere privilege, subject to the whim of petty bureaucrats. Fundamental rights are not abstract tokens that are given or sold by other men. They are in fact primary liberties bestowed upon us by God, our maker. Rights are not substantially secured by asking, ‘Mother may I?’ of any government agency. Rights are more properly demanded or boldly seized and then conspicuously exercised regularly. This secures the liberties that have legitimately belonged to us since birth. If need be, lost rights can and must be restored through proscriptive use. If you live in a land where your rights have been marginalized into privileges, then it is either time to change your government, or to change your address. Much like a muscle that atrophies with disuse, any right that goes unexercised for many years devolves into a privilege, and eventually can even be redefined as a crime.” – James Wesley, Rawles, How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It
The Editors’ Quote Of The Day
Remember, the only “rights” that government enjoys respecting, are the “privileges and immunities” that they sell you.
If you believe in unalienable rights derived from the Creator, you’d better know exactly who that Creator is, and make sure you know exactly which “rights” He is ready to protect.
Our job is to protect His rights. He will facilitate this work. But if you claim “your rights” to reject His authority, go figure.
“But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.” Luke 19:27.
A sovereign Lord does not allow His subjects to pick and choose which of His laws they will obey, and He does not tolerate “interpretations” that nullify them. Why? Because His laws work perfectly, and anything else makes a big mess.
Change your address??
There is no country where your rights are protected, period. If you don’t want to have marginalized your rights, you have to fight all governments at once (and win, as you said). Who fights for their rights opposes all governments at once, threatens their existence, they can’t order free people.