The Cost of Individual Rights

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The Concept of Individual Rights

Fundamentally, individual rights are freedoms and liberties enjoyed by human beings. However, rights come in various forms. For instance, in the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson wrote, and the Founding Fathers concurred, that being equal in their created status, every human being shares the natural rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Jefferson termed them unalienable rights.

While those three are considered inherent rights shared by every human being, not all rights are created equal. That is because not every right is a natural human right. Sometimes rights are derived from other sources. For instance, certain rights may be derived from the government under which authority a person lives. As an example, citizens of the United States of America share rights granted via our founding document, the U.S. Constitution. The first ten amendments to that document, appropriately called the Bill of Rights, enumerate a number of those rights. These are identified as constitutional rights.

Like the U.S., nations like Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, South Africa, and others have delineated in their various founding documents rights shared by their citizenry. There are also some international versions similar to the Bill of Rights such as the European Convention on Human Rights, which applies jointly to assorted European nations.

There is another category of rights known as statutory rights. These are rights extended to the public via laws written by governments that may be shared only by those who reside in the jurisdiction to which the law applies. For instance, the United State federal government has established a minimum wage and, according to that law, every employee of every company in the United States has a right to be paid accordingly. Yet certain states have established minimum wages that exceed the federal minimum wage, so those living in certain states have a right to a wage that is higher than the federal minimum wage.

Rights in America

Americans have a history of standing solidly on, and clinging to, their rights. It is not uncommon in America for individuals to spout the words: I have a right to..., followed by the voicing of the specific right applicable to the given situation. On the other hand, it may be said that there are times when individuals attempt to exercise rights they do not own.

In America, the citizenry shares a right to assemble peacefully (First Amendment). This is not only a right that many Americans cherish, but it is a right upon which many people rely. However, where there are rights, there are also responsibilities and occasionally certain restrictions. For example, while people have a right to assemble, that assembly cannot involve blocking a roadway preventing travelers from reaching their destination. Additionally, it is critical to understand that peaceful assembly precludes violence. Once an assembly deteriorates into violence, the right to assembly is forfeited.

It is crucial to understand that a person's rights are only valid when they do not infringe upon the rights of others. This principle of non-interference is foundational to the social contract that binds members of a community together. When one's exercise of rights impinges on another's ability to enjoy theirs, conflicts arise. For example, the right to free speech (First Amendment) is paramount; however, this right does not extend to speech that incites violence or endangers others (like falsely shouting "fire" in a crowded theater). Consequently, exercising one's rights demands respect for the rights of others.

The Cost of Rights

Statutory rights are categorically distinct from both unalienable rights and constitutional rights, particularly where cost is concerned. When a statutory right is established via legal statute, there may be a cost (financial or otherwise) that is borne by someone other than the individual who benefits from the passage of the statute. For instance, in the case of a minimum wage, mentioned earlier, there is a cost to the employer who hires an employee at a higher wage due to the law. Similarly, there are both federal and state laws declaring a person's right to a safe work environment. Again, any cost involved in providing that safe workspace is paid by the employer.

The cost of a right is what distinguishes unalienable rights and constitutional rights from statutory rights. The government, via the passage of a statute, may place a cost on someone other than the beneficiary. However, this is not true of either unalienable rights or constitutional rights.

To this point, at least in the United States, only three rights have been deemed unalienable rights. These are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. What is noticeable here is that, while an individual can enjoy these rights, this can be done without placing any kind of burden or cost (financial or otherwise) on any other person. A person can breathe, eat, and sustain his/her life completely independent of the resources of others. Similarly, that person can enjoy freedom and pursue life ambitions without costing his neighbor.

This truth becomes equally evident when reviewing the assorted rights individuals share in the U.S. Consider the following rights delineated in the Bill of Rights. The First Amendment recognizes that an individual has the right to worship God as he/she sees fit. That same amendment mentions a person's right to speak freely (with an unspoken but incontrovertible focus on political speech), a right for the press to report without government interference, a right to assemble peacefully, and a right to petition the government. 

Moving to the Second Amendment, a person's right to own a gun (bear arms) is clearly enunciated and the Third Amendment, which grew out of the abuses brought upon the colonists by the British Military, assures an individual of security in his home without the military quartering soldiers there. Additionally, the Fourth Amendment assures individuals that their homes and properties, including personal documents, are protected from unreasonable search and seizure by the government. The balance of the Bill of Rights generally deals with a person's rights with respect to legal proceedings (e.g. trial by jury), etc.

What is common about these enumerated constitutional rights, as well as the unalienable rights mentioned above, is that they place no burden or requirement (financial or otherwise) on any other person. There are, of course, social costs. For instance, a jury requires community participation for trial by jury and the cost of war to protect rights is no small thing. Still, an individual can enjoy these individual rights without infringing on another person's rights or life. In fact, for something to qualify as a right, the one thing it cannot do is infringe on the rights of others. That is the nature of a right.

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