Monday, April 16, 2012

Rights

I'm sitting here listening to the radio and Lee Greenwood, Proud to be an American is playing.

Granted, this is a wonderful song and I agree with the meaning behind the song, but there is one bit of that song that just really irks me.  In fact, it irks me so bad that I feel like I could rip someone's face off.....

The line?

I won't forget the men who died, who GAVE that right to me.

That line would be better off saying, "I won't forget the men who died, who DEFEND that right for me."

As all my BAR readers well know, I absolutely love our military and I absolutely love that our founders fought to defend our liberty and created a nation based on life, liberty and the persuit of happiness.

The problem that I have is that our Founders did not 'grant us' or 'give us' our right to live as free individuals.  They merely established a government that is supposed to be limited and that is supposed to protect we the people's  God given right to live as free individuals.

The moment that you believe that any right can be given to you by man (or government) then it is no longer a right, but a privelege.

A right is something that exists regardless of whether or not it is acknowledged by another individual or a government or other entity.

So while Lee Greenwood's song is heartwarming in a feel good kind of way, I think that he uses a poor choice of wording in the chorus.

/end rant

1 comment:

  1. Dead on. And unfortunately, too many think rights come from man.

    ReplyDelete

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