rights: birth, natural, human and civil

Here are the "birth rights" a person has. Ready? Okay. A person lives until they die. That's it. No more birth rights. The only right one has by virtual of where they are born or to whom they are born is to live until they die. Privilege of "developed world" or wealthy parents does not convey rights.I hear you churning up for an argument. Anything other than than that is a different kind and is necessarily a creation from nothing.

Natural Rights. Natural rights are the rights owned by virtue of thinking and doing. If we can dream it up, we have the right to pursue the dream. Groups, communities and cultures limit natural rights for various reasons, but no authority can grant a natural right. It exists by default.

Human rights. Human rights are granted by authoritative fiat. Collectively (more or less), the human community has agreed upon a minimum set rules of conduct for governments in regard to its citizens.

Civil rights. Rights granted to citizens that governs the conduct among citizens and spells out what the government can do to enforce and protect those rights. These are rights granted by the constitution or statute law and enforced by the courts. Included in civil rights are protections from the government and from other citizens.

Now, let's look at Health Care. If one defines health care as a right, in which category is it going to go? That's right. At best, health care is a civil right. Mostly, though, it is no right at all. It is not possible to have access to technology be a natural right. A natural right does not grant one the right to someone else's technology. The UN has some health care provisions in the Charter of Human Rights. Mostly pertaining to children.

So lets be careful about slinging around "human rights" and "birth rights" like we are suppose to have access to anything at all simply be virtual of being alive.

There is no such thing as a free lunch.