You Have No Rights, They’re Privileges
You Have No Rights, They’re Privileges
It should be obvious by now and it’s getting worse.
“Driving is a privilege, not a right.” That’s what I heard when I was a kid getting my license and the many times that I attended traffic school as a younger man. Apparently, everything is a privilege. Rights cannot be taken away. Those of us in the U.S. who believe we have unalienable rights, endowed by our creator have not been duly, rudely awakened yet. These so-called rights are revoked all the time and this makes them privileges.
From the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain Unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness….”
However, when we consult the record, we see that every Unalienable Right has either been altered curtailed or revoked. Last month the Supreme(ly fascist) Court issued a ruling that significantly blunts the famous Miranda ruling and subsequent law in 1966 (“You have the right to remain silent…). Before the new ruling, one could actually sue if this was not followed to the letter. Since 911, it has taken a beating but now, it’s virtually non-existent.
Habeas Corpus was gutted by Barack Obama in 2011 when he renewed the NDAA. In section 1021, the constitutional law professor, and Nobel Laureate, took away the right of not being unlawfully detained without charge for Americans. This was on New Year’s Eve, by the way. It seems this stuff always happens before the weekend, a holiday or when some other distraction occurs. His fans insist that it was George W. Bush who did that. Nope. In 2005, Bush, in violation of the Geneva Conventions for prisoners of war, nullified Habeas Corpus for enemy combatants, a term coined after 911. Being held indefinitely without charge, the Guantanamo Bay detainees were now free to be held without charge indefinitely and all by a new definition.
During the COVID fiasco, many people were unlawfully detained, prevented access to schools, employment and even hospitalization if they couldn’t prove they were vaccinated. These very same “my body, my right” people cheered when Roe v. Wade was relegated to “state’s rights.” As I have said before, the state’s rights argument never goes the way of the people.
There are many instances of rights being revoked at random and without cause. The biggest, most egregious example of this would be the internment of 110,000 Japanese Americans during WWII. American citizens, who have been here many generations, many with sons and fathers fighting for this country were stripped of property, ID, savings and put into concentration camps for up to four years. This was without due process, no court hearing, no charges. They simply were locked up for being of Japanese descent. A similar fate befell German Americans. Approximately 11,000 were locked up in South Texas between 1941-48. All of this under the US Justice Department's Enemy Alien Control Program.
The big point here is this; if we were in Saudi Arabia, fine. They don’t crow about democracy or human rights or anything remotely close to the crap we spew here. We pretend to be the “greatest country” on earth, while we colonize and destroy countries overseas and jail, murder and/or detain Americans at home.
We revoke the rights of citizenship, due process, and equal protection under the law at the drop of a hat. Why? There are no rights. We’re owned and the owners are clamping down harder than ever. Look around at the world today. Whatever happens overseas, comes to the U.S. to roost within five to ten years. Red Dawn is not a documentary, John Wayne wasn’t real, and Betsy Ross didn’t sew the first flag.
As I always say in these tender moments, quit watching TV.
Abe Abdelhadi hosts the Bitter Truth with Abe Abdelhadi on iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, etc.