I have been surprised over the last day or so seeing the diaries about whether we have rights or not, whether they are granted or not and by whom, and who decides about them. For such a bunch of liberals, it is pretty funny that we don't have the bedrock liberal philosophy down (even me). So, while I am not a philosopher (not even close!) I wanted to touch on some important issues that liberal thought is based on - mainly because the ideas are what have set us free, and the subsequent documents articulated the details.
Jump with me for more on our liberal thought-forefathers.
The documents (the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Federalist papers, and other important documents) were an outgrowth of liberal thinking, not the other way around. Inalienable rights didn't happen after the Declaration and the Constitution, we always had them.
Where did the ideas for the Constitution come from? Where did these radicals come up with such an idea that the rabble could rule themselves?
Liberal:
The word "liberal" derives from the Latin liber ("free, not slave"). It is widely associated with the word "liberty" and the concept of freedom.
I have noted a tagline like this around these parts, so there are undoubtedly some who know much more than I do about philosophy.
The core of liberal thought is generally traced back to Locke, though he was only the most recent of many philosophers who wrote about natural law. What were Locke's main ideas, you ask? His ideas can be distilled into three fundamental rights for a member of society: Life, Liberty, and Property.
Sound familiar? They should. They are the very same "Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of Happiness" written by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson gets credit, but he was merely rephrasing what Locke had written before.
So, what's the point? The point is that no document gave you the right to Liberty. And not just you. According to liberal thought, all people, not just American citizens, have natural rights, including Liberty. And Liberty means no imprisonment without process, no suspension of habeas corpus. And you were born with it.
By going against the liberal idea that habeas corpus has to be granted, or that it was given in the Constitution, or that it can be suspended goes against the very idea of natural rights - which was the fundamental basis of English Common Law, our Declaration of Independence and Constitution. I realize that there is wording for suspension of habeas is in the Constitution, but the point here is that liberal thought and natural rights are not granted. They are inherent in your status as a human being.
So, the next time you see some bogus argument about what rights you are granted and who grants them, remember this:
Your status as a human being grants you natural rights, including Life, Liberty, and Property. No document gave them to you, and no one can take them away without violating your natural rights. All the supporting documents, including the Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and others, are merely icing on the cake.