Natural Rights

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What is meant by the term “Natural Rights”?

During the confirmation hearing for Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court, a conservative Senator from Oklahoma asked the nominee her position on natural rights. Unable to get an answer, he asked the question differently, he asked if she believed in God given inalienable rights that supercede or bound the government’s authority.

Kagan could not bring herself to acknowledge a higher law than the laws of the land.

Herein lays the central issue in the battle between liberals and conservatives. Conservatives believe governments are established to protect the natural rights given to all men by their Creator. The government’s authority is therefore limited.

Liberals believe that government confers rights upon its citizens and there is no higher power than the federal government. Therefore the government is unrestricted in its reach and authority over the governed.

Apparently Kagan (and most liberal politicians) would strike any reference to “We the people” from our founding documents, which explains a lot about our current Congress.