Civilized Society is Unsustainable Without Basic Human Rights

As stated in our Declaration of Independence, “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…”  Never before in history, have mortal men packed so much wisdom into a single sentence.  Our founders understood that our human rights are inalienable – they were instilled in us by God.  As such, a yearning for liberty lives within each of us.  These rights cannot be cancelled, only suppressed.  Our founders understood, because they had lived it, that suppression of our human rights does not result in peace and stability, but only unrest.  For that reason, they codified our God-given rights in the constitution, to ensure ongoing institutional respect for these rights.

As human beings, our response to threats is programmed into our DNA.  When we perceive a threat (and a challenge to our well-being is a threat), our automatic response is either “fight” or “flight.”  Put another way, when threatened, we will seek either a violent or non-violent resolution of our differences.

As a civilized nation, we have made a pact to one another to default on the side of non-violent resolution of differences, whenever possible.  Our constitution has enshrined the rights afforded all of us to facilitate such non-violent resolution.  We have the right to control our government through free and fair elections.  We have the right to express ourselves via freedom of speech.  We have the right to assemble with other like-minded citizens for any non-violent purpose we choose (i.e., worship, political outreach, etc.).  We have a right to redress through legal means.  Neither our liberty, nor our property will be taken without due process.  When judged, we will not be judged by wigged overlords, but by our peers.

What happens when our God-given rights are usurped?  Might the citizens feel disenfranchised when election integrity is questionable?  Might they feel frustrated when their speech is censored?  Might they feel targeted when laws are applied selectively rather than equally?  Might they feel persecuted if they are judged, not by their peers, but by faceless bureaucrats and corporate functionaries.  Were erosion of our liberties to become systemic, it would be a violation of our pact of civilized behavior.

Sadly, we’ve seen all of these challenges to our rights attempted, to various degrees of success, in recent years.  Government agencies (CIA, FBI, IRS, and Justice Department) have targeted conservatives and their candidates.  Big-tech oligarchs are censoring and de-platforming dissenting views.  Pleas for redress are simply ignored by the courts (such as the Supreme Court denying a hearing on election fraud).

The yearning to be heard and treated fairly will not go away because avenues of redress are denied.  It will only increase with each passing day.  At some point the citizenry will consider the pact breached, null, and void.  The inevitable result of breaching our constitutional pact will be civil unrest.

Our founders understood that civilized society is not sustainable without unwavering respect for our human rights.  Without a universal commitment to those rights, only two types of society are possible – Tyranny or Anarchy.

This is not a call to violence.  It’s a reality check.  Throughout our history, Americans have proudly, and repeatedly, resisted the forces of oppression.  We have never accepted subjugation.  It would be a serious misjudgment to assume that we would now.  It’s critical that those seeking to oppress our rights understand the implications – If you take away our voices, we’ll be left with only our fists.