Rights vs Entitlements

We're not scared to lose it all
Security thown thru the wall
Future dreams we have to realize
--Howard Jones

Fine missive on the difference between rights and entitlements. Rights as treated in the Declaration and Constitution referred to the natural freedom to pursue one's interests without interference by others. Such rights do not guarantee that those interests will be achieved. In a free society, there is no guarantee that effort will be met with success.

Today, many claims of rights are really demands for guarantees. Woman's rights, minority rights, collective bargaining rights et al seek are initiatives of special interest groups (SIGs) to get something for nothing. SIGs recruit government, whose only competence is force, to interfere with the pursuits of others in order to better satisfy SIG interests.

SIGs argue that they are entitled to these priviledges. Such entitlements reduce freedom because fulfilling entitlements cannot be achieved without forceful interference into the liberties of others.

It should also be noted that interfering with the productive efforts of some and transferring resources from the productive to the unproductive reduces the incentive to produce. When less is produced, there is less to seize and redistribute. At some point, the State can no longer make good on entitlements.

This, of course, describes our current situation well. Europe has the lead, but we are not far behind.