A Course in Miracles: "Mom, what exactly are rights?"

Conservatives are always lamenting that liberal-progressives have for years been taking away our "God-given rights."

Meanwhile, liberal-progressives lament that conservatives are obstructing the creation of their Utopian society, where everything in their Utopian dreams they call a "right" - as in the "right" to health care, the "right" to education, the "right" to free contraception, the "right" to abortion if contraception is not used, animal "rights," gay "rights," the "rights" of favored voting constituencies ... and on and on and on.

No wonder a child watching all the confusion might ask: "Mom, what exactly are rights?"

An astute mother would answer her child wisely. "Wouldn't you say you know inside yourself when you have done something that is wrong? And wouldn't you also know inside yourself when you have done right?"

An honest child would agree. Yes, inside ourselves we feel impulses to take right actions and feel hesitant to take wrong actions. In order to get in trouble, we have to ignore our innate promptings. Even a child recognizes this.

But how does this fact translate into political philosophy? Very simply, politicians and bureaucrats can only know your individual inner impulses regarding a very few basics which are common to everyone. They can know your inner being is saying "thou shalt not murder, or steal, or commit fraud," because that's what everyone is hearing inside. But politicians and bureaucrats do not know what actions you are to take to serve every one's true best interests regarding mundane day to day activities. Morally (and logically), they must allow you freedom to do what you feel is right for you. Rights are freedoms of action.

So mom might tell her child in simple language: "You know inside yourself what is wrong to do. But if you feel really good inside yourself about doing something, you are right to do it. In other words, you have a right to do it."

Mom knows that if we listen inside to our inner promptings and do as told, we will prosper beyond our wildest imagination. And if we fail to listen inside, or fail to follow our innermost guidance, then we will experience the painful results of our mistakes ... and learn lessons we need to learn. Mom knows that learning valuable lessons is also a form of prosperity, but it is prosperity on a much deeper spiritual/emotional level.

So a really good mom might say to her child: "Don't ever let politicians or bureaucrats decide for you what is good for you. You need the life experiences which come from the freedom of making your own choices. That is your right."

To really understand the evil psychology of modern "liberal progressives," read Ayn Rand's entire novel "Atlas Shrugged"

"God's laws will keep your minds at peace, because peace IS His Will, and His laws are established to uphold it. His are the laws of freedom, but yours are the laws of bondage. Since freedom and bondage are irreconcilable, their laws CANNOT BE UNDERSTOOD TOGETHER. The laws of God work only for your good, and there ARE no other laws beside His. Everything else is merely lawLESS, and therefore chaotic." -Jesus Christ in A Course in Miracles