Versión Español
EspañolI’m sorry to give you all bad news.
Even though they are included in most constitutions, and that the United Nations has ratified them time and again, there is no such thing as the right to health, education, food or decent housing.
Those who want us to believe that some people deserve to live at the expense of others — well, it’s all a scam.
Social rights emerge when a group of people want to access certain goods or services, but without having to exchange something in return for them. In the Palaeolithic era, when all that existed were caves, sticks, fire and men trying to survive, nobody thought about claiming their right to education, or health or to decent housing.
Today, we have all kinds of professionals, products and services. But let us suppose that in a remote village, there are no doctors or teachers.
If all individuals are truly entitled to education and health, does that mean we can force some of its people to become teachers and doctors? Does this mean that we can force any teacher or doctor, living in another town, to move in order to educate and care for others?
Does this mean, in general, that teachers and doctors are required to provide others their services, regardless of if they want to or not, or whether we pay them for their service or not?
Everybody must work to pay bills and live their lives. To say that someone is forced to educate me, heal me, or build me a house against their will is the same as saying that we agree to slavery.
Since slavery obviously does not work in the long term, its proponents found a way to disguise it. Instead of enslaving a person completely, they enslave everyone only slightly, dividing the burden of maintaining these “rights” between a greater number of victims.
How? By forcing each and every person to give up a percentage of what they produce to meet the “right” of someone else.
Have you ever wondered what would happen if, from now on, the entire population of the country decided to stop producing, and demand social rights? Who would provide them in such a case?
One tends to believe that it is the state that provides health, education and even housing sometimes. But the state does not produce anything — it only takes away resources from those who do.
In order to satisfy so-called social rights, it is necessary that everyone be willing to offer others their services for free. Since no one can live on air, and nobody wants to pay for the lives of others, there is only one way to grant these social rights: at gunpoint.
So, if I cannot afford to pay a doctor, does that mean I should die? If I cannot afford to pay for school, does that mean I cannot educate myself? If I cannot afford a house, does that mean I have to live outdoors?
Of course, there are extreme situations in which some people cannot afford the most basic human needs, but this often happens in systems where the farce of social rights (Cuba, Venezuela) has taken preference over individual rights. In countries with greater respect for individual rights, there are ways to resolve these situations not with state intervention, but rather with respect for life and people’s good will.
To help someone in an emergency, to heal someone else without receiving money in return, to feed someone in need — these are acts of generosity that should never be impeded.
The only real rights we have are the right to life, liberty and property. The right to life does not mean that someone else should provide it. Rather, it means that no one should attack it.
The right to property does not mean someone else must give us a house, but that we can exercise our freedom of action in order to get one. The only thing that these rights demand is respect for the equal rights of others.
As the philosopher Ayn Rand stated:
“Any alleged “right” of one man which necessitates the violation of the rights of another, is not and cannot be a right. No man can have a right to impose an unchosen obligation, an unwarranted duty or an involuntary servitude on another man.”
The question that has to be done to find out the difference between a real right or a scam is: At whose expense am I getting this “right”? Are there victims involved?
The next time you encounter a defender of social rights, please ask him what he plans to sacrifice to get them.
