by Ray Newman, radio and television commentator, attorney, educator, author

Saturday, November 2, 2013

WHAT DOES "TO" MEAN?




One section of today's SAT exam requires test takers to identify any error in the underlined words of a sentence.  The following sentence is an example:

Obamacare has been advertised as a program to provide lower income people with their right to healthcare.

The correct answer is "right to"...that is, "right to" is wrong.
 
Here is what the Declaration of Independence says:
  
      "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Do you see anything in there about having a right to anything? No.  All the rights you have and will ever have are already yours...you were endowed with them by your Creator and they are unalienable, forever yours.   So any program that purports to give you your rights, is wrong, wrong, wrong.

Plus, your rights do not refer to tangible goods or services, as presently and commonly perceived.   The rights of  life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness mean you are sovereign over your own life, you are free to pursue the goods and services and other things that will make you happy, as you and you alone choose to pursue them.  A perceived right to something requires others to provide it to you, and that would be a rejection of their endowed unalienable rights.

Every welfare program, no matter how compassionate and noble sounding it may be, does not provide rights, but rejects rights...and is rooted in the same vulgar ideas underlying slavery.

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