Bill of Rights and Consequences and Obligations

This thing about rights keeps growing and growing.   In the US of A, we lead the way – we have more darn rights today than anytime:

·         Right to vote, even if you can’t read or write or speak the native tongue

·         Right to wear your pants low and your underpants high (cool, man)

·         Right to all sorts of free stuff:

o   Food – your very own SNAP “credit card” so it looks like it’s your money

o   Rent – nice digs, on the house (get it?)

o   Health care – of course you don’t have to pay the doctor, nurses, hospital

o   Drugs – whatever you need, don’t concern yourself with cost

o   Money – don’t earn any?  Just file for a “earned income tax credit”

o   Education – of course, it’s your path to the dream

o   Booze – you bet.  Money is fungible; there’s always money for booze

·         Right to marry a same sex person – it’s as normal as nature

·         Right to big paychecks, benefits and bigger pensions. If  you are a “public servant”

·         Right to an attorney and nice jailers

·         Right to come here uninvited, stay and then demand/complain

·         Right to abort your inconvenient pregnancy, and get someone else to pay for it

·         Right to get free birth control  - pills, condoms, etc.

·         And the right to not use them!

·         Right to not move.  Can’t find a job?  Go on the dole – no need to move to find work 

·         Right to do almost anything in the name of your religion; well some religions

·         Right to not work at any job that threatens your self esteem 

Every time America adds to its growing list of rights, one other thing happens – debt.  There is not enough tax money to pay for all these rights.  So everyone runs deficits and as these deficits accumulate, debt rises.  It’s a right.  Yes, debt is a right. 

Rights produce really nifty consequences.  In fact, the consequences become rights unto themselves.  Here are a few:

·         Debt, as mentioned, top of the list

·         Laziness is a close second

·         Irresponsibility, right up there with laziness

·         Obesity and stupidity – strong hold on fourth and fifth place

·         Unemployment – no one talks about this one but who wants to hire the above?

·         Oh, there is one other consequence, a pretty big one

o   Corruption.  You want to corrupt an entire nation?  Load it up with rights!

Even though these are consequences; today, they are also our rights!  We have the right to be fat, stupid, uneducated, unemployable and lazy.  And our government has the right to be corrupt.

There is one other right and it is a real beauty.  It is the right to not have to discuss, talk about or tolerate any one else discussing, debating or drawing attention to the consequence of all our rights.  Think about it – someone, say a republican because the democrats own the right to not debate; not face any questions about anything; and most certainly not engage in informed reporting and analysis of the consequences listed above – any citizen who wishes to address these rights and the growing list of consequences is shut down.  They are called names such as:

·         Homophobe

·         Islamaphobe (Dr. Carson just got a belly full of this one)

·         1%’er

·         Racist

·         Xenophobe

·         Transphobe (new one)

·         Anti-Semite

·         Genderist

·         Sectarianism (look it up)

·         Etc.

TheFundamentals entire raison d’être (reason for being) is captured simply and thusly:

deficits = debt = destruction

What feeds our deficits and builds debt are our rights.  We have darn near every right under the sun except the right (actually it would be an obligation) to repay our debt.  We don’t focus on obligations do we?  We are big on rights; accept the consequences without question or debate; and ignore obligations.  Rights without obligations are infantile – childish – just plain silly.  The founders gave us a "bill of rights" - actually it was just a list of limits on government.  Today there are no limits on government.  It is now unmanageable and it overwhelms us with debt.  But there is no "obligation" to repay this "consequence." 

What good are "rights" and their "consequences" without "obligations"?  What value do "rights" have when we ignore or pretend that they don't come with "obligations"?