Reading Us Our Rights

Living in the US, I have more rights than in just about anyplace on earth. Unfortunately, more and more of us seem to think that our long list of rights is an infinite list of rights that guarantees everything to us and holds us accountable for very little. These invented rights include:

The Right to Happiness. No one can guarantee that we will be happy. The Founding Fathers declared we have a right to the pursuit of happiness. Actually attaining it is our own problem.

The Right to Associate with Whom We Please. People who want to associate with one another generally have a right to do so. This doesn't mean we have the right to associate with people who don't want us.

The Right to Speak Without Consequence. You're certainly allowed to say what you want, but listeners are just as certainly allowed to form negative opinions about what you say. If you speak out for the rights of gays, you may not be welcome in a conservative Christian church. If you wildly rant about the evils of Christianity, people may stop taking you seriously altogether.

The Right to Be Published. You have the right to write down your beliefs and opinions, and you have the right to seek out methods of disseminating such information. That doesn't mean anyone is required to assist you. It is not censorship if a publisher refuses to publish your work, whether in printed or digital form.

All of these assumptions primarily come from a lack of self-responsibility. People don't want to be held accountable for their actions or their fate. They are so fortunate with their circumstances that they expect everything to be handed to them on a plate.