A free-speech zone at the 2004 Democratic National Convention

Rudolph Giuliani wrote: “At the core of all Americans is the belief that all human beings have certain inalienable rights that proceed from God but must be protected by the state.”

Protected from what? From whom? Who violates the rights of a group of people? Another group of people, some villainous gang. How? By abusing some power they hold over the first group? Where do they get that power? Why, most often from the state. Will the state protect our rights from itself? Will it police itself to ensure nobody abuses its authority for evil purposes? How often do you find a state genuinely dedicated to protecting the rights of all its citizens? Rarely, if ever.

The state can’t grant or take away inalienable rights, though. You may be prevented from exercising your inalienable rights, but you still have them. The United States Constitution recognizes but doesn’t grant certain inalienable rights. It doesn’t have to recognize them. It can be amended, after all—-the Bill of Rights itself is a set of amendments. Not that Congress will ever repeal the amendments in the Bill of Rights. They’ll equivocate them to death. You have the right to bear arms, except for big scary ones. As if the purpose of the second amendment was to protect our right to go hunting and target-shooting and defend ourselves against individual criminals. It’s for our own good, to protect us from criminals who want to kill us. (Meanwhile, the state continues to build an arsenal of weapons that could easily destroy human civilization.) You have the right to be secure against unreasonable search and seizure of your property, and agents of the state who wish to search or seize your property must obtain a warrant giving probable cause and describing the place to be searched and the person or things to be seized. That is, unless it’s inconvenient for the state to obtain a warrant, or there’s a terrorist suspect involved. It’s for our own good, to protect us from terrorists. You have the right to peaceably assemble, but if you peaceably assemble to protest the state you had better stay in the free speech zone if you don’t want to get beaten by the police. You have the right to freedom of speech, but if you say “fuck” on television a million dollars. You have the right to freedom of the press, but if you publish “obscene” material you might be fined or thrown in prison. It’s for our own good, to protect the children, who are our future.

The most important right, the right to control your own body, isn’t explicit in the Constitution at all, although it’s obviously implicit in the rights enumerated. It’s a right that the state doesn’t protect well at all and often actively violates.

All for our own good. Don’t you enjoy the state’s protection? Isn’t protection from crime and terrorism and moral corruption more important than protection of your rights?

Our inalienable rights must be protected by the state? But the state most often and most effectively prevents their free exercise.