Listen to the national dialog in America today and it is clear that the distinction between Rights, Powers, and Privileges is becoming increasingly confused and even lost. In today’s affluent modern American society it is common to hear the anguished cry for, “our rights!” We hear many demanding rights that are in fact not rights. We hear few talking about powers and it appears unclear to many who should have the powers and which powers. The word privilege is rarely if ever heard. The idea of privileges has been completely supplanted by the inaccurate use of the word '”rights.”

Let’s clarify. Rights are innate to our being. They have been bestowed upon us by our Creator. That Creator could be God or Nature, it makes little difference. Because we are conscious, sentient beings we exist naturally with certain rights. No outside body grants these rights. We do not need to qualify for these rights. We need no license or special qualifications in order to exercise these rights. It is important to note that we all enjoy the same rights. Because we are, we have the right to life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, speech, love, and hate. These rights are granted by our Creator, and none have the right to take them from us, unless we, ourselves, rob this right from another. In this case, the principal of justice demands that our rights become forfeit.

From rights we gain powers. The power to act. The power to build, learn, procreate, communicate, and destroy. These powers we are free to exercise with the only restriction being that we must not violate the rights of others. As societies grow and develop, it becomes necessary for increased coordination as populations exercise these rights and powers. It often becomes necessary for some powers to be delegated to centralized bodies for this coordination effort. We often decide to curtail some of our powers in order to protect the remaining powers.

As we exercise our powers we create privileges. Privileges are granted from one party to another. They are not innate. If a man builds a structure he would have the right to take shelter under it because he is its creator. He may grant the privilege of shelter to some others. A group of people may work together and build a bridge and grant the privilege of passage to others. They may place restrictions on the privilege such as a weight limit in order to preserve the bridge. It is their right to enact such restrictions on the usage of this bridge, they created the bridge. No one but the creators have right to the bridge or the laws under which it is operated. The group may have different opinions as to what the weight limit should be and ideally this would have been determined at the onset of the project. However, if no consensus can be reached then the majority opinion of the group should rule. The rest of the people have no right to use the bridge, however they can enjoy the privilege of the bridge if they can abide by the restrictions the creators have enacted.

Today we hear many crying for their rights when in fact they are demanding privileges. They claim that they have a right of healthcare, housing, clothing, food, driving, marriage, and jobs. These are all privileges. The only right you have regarding these things is if you create these things. If you create your own clothing then you have rights to it. Here is a way to clarify if what you’re asking for is a right or privilege. Ask the question, if I were the only human on the planet would I innately have this thing? Regarding the right to speak, or defend yourself the answer is obvious. You would certainly have these rights. Rights do not put others in bondage to provide something for you. I do not have the right to demand that you provide me healthcare, education, or food. I have the right to provide these for myself but not to bring you under obligation to provide them for me.

In addition to physical things the same is true with societal concepts like practicing law or marriage. These are both privileges which require qualification and even a license. No one is obligated to marry me. If they so choose then it is my privilege to be married to them. In addition, marriage is an institution created by societies. These societies have differing rules and regulations one must follow to qualify, and some even require a license to enjoy the privilege. Some societies do not allow siblings to marry, some restrict it by age, some have rigid restrictions on what would dissolve the marriage and others do not. Because the society created this institution the majority in the society have the right to determine how it is administered. The same as it is with toll roads, bridges, airports, and highways.

As we debate rights, powers, and privileges today, let’s take extra effort to maintain clarity about what are our rights, what powers we have because of those rights, what privileges have been created, and in what ways we may want to restrict or govern those privileges. Remember these are YOUR rights, YOUR powers, do not give them up too easily; do not allow them to be TAKEN from you. If you do not guard them, NO ONE WILL!