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In this Thursday's edition of "find that right," I challenge the board to find the right to contraceptives in the American constitution. What amendment is this right in? Good luck!
Whoever said there is a Constitutional right to contraception???
No, they are not a condition of existence. They exist because we say they do. Where else do they come from? Are they delivered from on high? Are they written in the stars?
I suggest they come from the author of the book you read in which you learned about these so-called natural rights.
You serve your masters well.
My right to life, liberty and property (the real inalienable rights that Jefferson paraphrased from Locke) are a condition of existence, not a gift from your masters. My right to speech, religion, association, expression, self-defense, ownership of myself and that which my labor/intellect/creativity produces...all of these things are mine by virtue of being alive. All your masters can do is decide what to take away from me. They give me nothing that didn't already belong to me.
You really should read the writings and speeches of your founding fathers. They based a lot of the founding documents on the concept of natural rights, government not being giver but usurper, etc.
No, they are not a condition of existence. They exist because we say they do. Where else do they come from? Are they delivered from on high? Are they written in the stars?
I suggest they come from the author of the book you read in which you learned about these so-called natural rights.
A person is born with the natural freedom to do as they desire. There is no naturally existing entity to limit the actions. Government is created by people and establishes the rules by which they will live together. These rules place limits on previously unlimited behavior. The Constitution of the US limits the government's ability to do so.
The right to have prescription drugs, which would include contraceptives, is provided by federal law, and as administered, regulated and enforced by the Food and Drug Administration.
There is no express right under the Constitution for a person to be married. The right of marriage is subject to state (not federal) law; and provided that such state laws do not violate a person’s rights to due process and equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment (which has been deemed applicable to the several states), they are valid and enforceable.
Likewise there is no general right of privacy under the Constitution; but rather by decisions of the Supreme Court. The Fourth Amendment provides protection against unreasonable searches and seizures that is narrowly circumscribed, and does not extend to a general constitutional right of privacy.
The only rights granted by the Constitution are the ones related to criminal trials. The Bill of Rights (minus the stuff about criminal trials) does not grant rights. It simply lists a few of the natural individual rights that federal government cannot mess with, specifically, just in case they ever tried to forget. The 9th and 10th Amendments then explain that a) just because it isn't listed her doesn't mean you don't have that right or that the right is denied and b) if it isn't specifically granted to the federal government as an enumerated power, then it's not a power they have.
And before anyone invokes the "general welfare" thing as that which creates a positive/legal/statutory "right" to contraception, the person most directly for writing the Constitution and a number of the Federalist Papers, James Madison, argued that the general welfare clause was not enumerated power of unlimited authority. He should know what the Constitution means, since it's essentially his writing.
More philosophically, there is no "right" to anything produced, sold or provided by others. The reason for that is that if you have such a right, then by definition the person(s) producing, selling or otherwise providing that which you have a "right" to are your slave(s). So there is no right to someone else providing you with contraception. There may indeed be a feeling of entitlement, or a government enforced coercion, or simple tyranny that does force others to provide you with free contraception, but it does not make that a right.
The Constitution is:
1) A detailed description of how the federal government will be set up and function.
2) A specific set of detailed powers the federal government can possess. 3) A long list of stuff the federal government is specifically told they cannot mess with, control, abridge, etc.
But besides the rules for trials, it grants no rights.
Cant rep you again for a bit, but right on. my brother. Most people do not understand the difference between Constitutional rights as opposed to civil rights. Constitutional rights are enumerated in the Constitution. Civil rights are the result of case law.
There are those who say that the 9th and or 10th amendments apply, but the courts have been reluctant to open that door.
My right to life, liberty and property (the real inalienable rights that Jefferson paraphrased from Locke) are a condition of existence, not a gift from your masters. My right to speech, religion, association, expression, self-defense, ownership of myself and that which my labor/intellect/creativity produces...all of these things are mine by virtue of being alive.
You said that already. Repeating yourself is not an argument.
Quote:
You really should read the writings and speeches of your founding fathers.
Your founding fathers, not mine. And why are you appealing to your founding fathers? That'd be a pretty good reference if you were arguing that rights stem from society, but you aren't. You're stating they come from nature. Where in nature are they to be found?
Quote:
They based a lot of the founding documents on the concept of natural rights, government not being giver but usurper, etc.
So natural rights exist because they say so. I am not convinced any more than when you said so.
Where are these rights codified in nature? Where can I find them? Are they written in the stars? Did they come to us in dreams? I keep asking, you keep failing to answer. It's more likely that you believe these rights come with being born for no other reason than you've been told these rights come with being born, based on your appeal to dead guys in wigs. They do not.
You said that already. Repeating yourself is not an argument.
Your founding fathers, not mine. And why are you appealing to your founding fathers? That'd be a pretty good reference if you were arguing that rights stem from society, but you aren't. You're stating they come from nature. Where in nature are they to be found? So natural rights exist because they say so. I am not convinced any more than when you said so. Where are these rights codified in nature? Where can I find them? Are they written in the stars? Did they come to us in dreams? I keep asking, you keep failing to answer. It's more likely that you believe these rights come with being born for no other reason than you've been told these rights come with being born, based on your appeal to dead guys in wigs. They do not.
You really need to get an education, be that thru reading or classroom.
No they don't. The specific right to bear arms is in the constitution, why not the right to contraceptives? Please find contraceptives in the American constitution. Thank you.
When the Constitution was written we hadn't invented effective drugs for contraception (That would be 190 years into the future) , I think a form of the rubber existed made out of silk or pigs intestines but I wouldn't vouch for its effectiveness. Like everything else that modern technology has provided in the last 238 years of our Republic to better the lives of Americans it is covered onder the General Welfare clause (Article 1 Section 8) that gives Congress the power to appropriate funds from taxes to do anything or provide any product that improves the general Welfare of the American citizens or people under their jurisdiction.
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