Huckabee's Speech at the convention

[Avtomat Kalashnikova]

Did anybody else see huckabee talk about your "privileges" as an american and how you have to earn them?

What a moron. Maybe he should try educating himself before opening his trap.

A privilege—etymologically "private law" or law relating to a specific individual—is a special entitlement or immunity granted by a government or other authority to a restricted group, either by birth or on a conditional basis. By contrast, a right is an inherent, irrevocable entitlement held by all citizens or all human beings from birth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privilege

I don't know about you, but government doesn't grant me privileges, I grant government privileges. I have rights, and rights don't need to be earned.

[sremington]

Actually there are God given rights but all the others are given to you by those who have control over you.

In other words you might not have the right to walk on the town's lawn... That is granted to you by the government. You may feel you have that right but if they toss you in jail for walking in the lawn down town then you really don't have that right.

I believe there are certain things that are God given rights like protecting my family. I believe the ability to own guns and defend myself is a God given right but if my government strips me of those rights I no longer have that ability whether I should or shouldn't.

If the government my force removes guns from my house and strips me of my God given right then I no longer have that right and I am no longer a free person if you will.

As for Huckabee, I thought his speech wasn't too bad. Better than Giuliani's and Romney's.

I got confused about the desk and how that was already earned or something... I dunno... got lost..

[Avtomat Kalashnikova]

A right is by definition irrevocable. Can't be taken from you. you can surrender it , but no one can take it from you.

The government is created by people to facilitate certain things. In its creation, society collectively determines that some rights may be surrender to the government. I have a right to walk on the town's lawn because as a citizen I am part owner. Government is like a corporation and we are all partial owners. Those kids in huckabee's story had a right to those desks because they (or more properly their parents) own them.

Government can not strip you of your rights, you can surrender them, but no one can force compliance. A god given right can be taken by only god himself or surrendered by you.

His whole point with the desks and crap was that he doesn't believe that you have a right to anything and that the only way to obtain "privileges" is military service. This is just militarism in disguise. You don't need to serve in the military to get anything. Military service is just a job.