If rights belong naturally to us, then why are laws containing rights subject to a popular vote for repeal or approval? If rights belong naturally to us, why were the Bill of Rights and other parts of the 1787 constitution subject to votes by two-thirds of state legislatures? If rights belong naturally to us, why is it that we’re realizing new rights at the state and local levels which are not contained in the federal constitution and are ballyhooed as “I don’t see a right to x in the constitution”? Are those rights really inherent? Or are they really the result of claims which are militated, resisted and negotiated before they are enshrined? My “natural” rights had to be validated by white people. Women’s rights had to be validated by men. Your right to vote without a property requirement was validated by old-money landowners. Maybe this idea that rights are “inherent and natural” is an ahistorical crock.
