Issue 36.16
Unalienable, Unabridgeable, Undeniable. In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson provided the birth certificate of our nation. More than that, he explained the rational reasons that a nation should exist and why the people of that nation had the right and responsibility to separate themselves from any tyranny or system that infringes on those inalienable rights. Unalienable rights are those granted by God to all humans, simply by nature of their existence. No one deserves less than those basic rights, regardless of birth, nationality, race, creed or color. The purpose of any government is clearly defined as a responsibility to protect and sustain those rights. The only reason any government needs to frame laws, treaties and policies is to support those rights. The only time governments are justified in suppressing or removing those rights is if individuals or groups are proven guilty of taking those rights from others. That proof has to rise to the level that a jury of the peers (similar citizens) of those accused agree together that the defendants have interfered with or destroyed those rights for others.
Jefferson named four of those rights, acknowledging that others also exist but would not be examined in that document. Only three were in the final draft – Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. It is clear however that the removal of the fourth (Property) was not because it did not qualify, but because of the difficulty of clarifying the many aspects of that principle in a brief document. It was eventually included as a part of the Pursuit of Happiness. This is clear because of the private and public writings of those who framed the Declaration and Constitution.
The concept of unalienable rights was not new. Greek and Roman philosophers had suggested and defended the rights of the common man. The Magna Carta framed many concepts supporting them in England over 500 years before the US Declaration. The Magna Carta (or Grand Charter) was modified and clarified over the years in different editions issued by different kings, but the changes made it increasingly clear that these rights were for the common people and not just for their leaders or rulers.
The responsibility of governments to sustain and defend these rights included the responsibility to punish or remove from society those who took those rights from others. For example, if one person took the life of another, their right to life could similarly be denied. However, juries were to consider circumstances (such as if the perpetrator was defending themselves, their property, the lives of others, etc). If they damaged the life, liberty, property or pursuit of happiness of others, their liberty, property or pursuit of happiness could likewise be infringed upon through fines, incarceration or public humiliation. All of these things were to be proven “beyond a reasonable doubt” and proven without unfair or immoral actions by the government. This included proscriptions against forcing testimony from anyone against their will, self-incrimination and even allowing the government to access the papers and property of the accused. Those things could only be accessed if a grand jury (again composed of citizens) felt there was sufficient evidence to grant a warrant describing the specific place and items to be searched for.
Unalienable means sacred and undeniable to anyone not convicted of the types of crimes noted above. It took our nation decades to actually defend and apply these rights to all races and genders, but the direction for much of our history has been to align with those concepts. Sadly, the corporate and governmental elite in our country are in the process of infringing on those unalienable rights and trying again to re-establish a sort of “right of Kings”. They believe it’s acceptable to take from the general citizen those rights, in order to create their vision of whatever future they believe will serve them, doing so at the expense of our unalienable rights. One of the key indicators of this is the effort to restrict ownership of firearms. This would render us helpless in any struggle against government-sponsored tyranny. Our responsibility as citizens and a free people is to make sure this does NOT happen and that our unalienable rights are secured.
Lynn West is a thinker, a teacher and a patriot. You can reach him through email at forgingthefuture2021@gmail.com or through this newspaper. Liberty is a state of being which must be continually created. These articles can help all of us discover the ways we can contribute to that outcome.