Remember what was quoted Friday. We’ll continue on this topic tomorrow as well (and maybe Wednesday too).
A right does not include the material implementation of that right by other men; it includes only the freedom to earn that implementation by one’s own efforts.
Observe, in this context, the intellectual precision of the Founding Fathers: they spoke of the right to the pursuit of happiness – not the right to happiness. It means that a man has the right to take the actions he deems necessary to achieve his happiness; it does not mean that other must make him happy.
The right to life means that a man has the right to support his life by his own work (on any economic level, as high as his ability will carry him); it does not mean that others must provide him with the necessities of life.
The right to property means that a man has the right to take the economic actions necessary to earn property, to use it and dispose of it; it does not mean that others must provide him with property.
The right to free speech means that a man has the right to express his ideas without danger of suppression, interference or punitive action by the government. It does not mean that others must provide him with a lecture hall, a radio station or a printing press through which to express his ideas.
Any undertaking that involves more than one man, requires the voluntary consent of every participant. Every one of them has the right to make his own decision, but none has the right to force his decision on the others.
There is no such thing as “A Right to a Job� – there is only the right of free trade, that is: a man’s right to take a job if another man chooses to hire him. There is no “Right to a Home�, only the right of free trade: the right to build a home or to buy it. There are no “Rights to a ‘Fair’ Wage or a ‘Fair’ Price� if no one chooses to pay it, to hire a man or to buy his product. There are not “Rights of Consumers� to milk, shoes, movies or champagne if no producers choose to manufacture such items (there is only the right to manufacture them oneself). There are no “Rights� of special groups, there are no “Rights of Farmers, of Workers, of Businessmen, of Employees, of Employers, of The Old, of The Young, of the Unborn�. There are only the Rights of Man – rights possessed by every individual and by all men as individuals.
Property rights and the right to free trade are man’s only “Economic Rights� (they are, in fact, political rights) – and there can be no such thing as “an economic bill of rights�. But observe that the advocates of the latter have all but destroyed the former.
Ayn Rand: Man’s Rights – 1967