Today in America, we think that we are entitled to certain unalienable rights and privileges which we have indisputable claims to. We think that we have a right to public education, a right to medical aid, a right to financial relief, a right to be lifted up in times of misfortune, a right to social security, a right to public debt, etc. We believe that we have these things coming to us. Such "rights" however, are not reflected in the Bill of Rights, but instead a few similar such sentiments can be found in the Constitution of the First Republic of France found below:
ON THE GUARANTEE OF RIGHTS
"The Constitution guarantees all Frenchmen equality, liberty, security, property, public debt, freedom of worship, public schooling, public relief, unrestricted freedom of the press, the right to assemble in groups, and the enjoyment of all the rights of man."
Do you know what happened to the First Republic of France? It imploded, and rained terror as the guillotine claimed one bloody prize after another. This republican attempt in France, which seemed to mirror the proved republic in America, soured as fast as milk left out in the sun, while America only grew more powerful. Why? Blame it on the French statesman's erroneous understanding of rights. They thought that a man could retain his right to property while he claimed from everyone else their rights property by including "Security, public schooling, and public relief." By promising the Frenchman both contradictory rights, they effectively guaranteed nothing. While the First French Republic promised every citizen what was theirs and what was their neighbors, The United States Of America promised every citizen to protect only what was naturally belonging to the citizen: HIS life, His liberty, and HIS pursuits of happiness. Is it not obvious what our fate as a nation will be if we persist in thinking that we have a right to both our own property and the public's? Destruction, Dearth, Doom, and Death!
Sources:
ON THE GUARANTEE OF RIGHTS
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