Question for you all
 

I was following a thread recently where someone brought up basic human rights.

It occurres it me that in our society, we really do not have anything that might be considered basic human rights.

Of course we already know we do not have a right to health care or food. But do we really even have a right to unpolluted air to breath or unpoisoned water to drink? Corporate america regularly poisons both and there seems to be little concern over it. There are some pretty words about basic human rights in the constitution but they are regularly ignored by both citizens and authority figures alike so they don't mean much.

So I'm asking ya'll, do humans really have anything that can be defended as basic human rights, rights that apply to every human which are above question, Rights that apply whether one is wealthy or dirt poor, or is the term an oxymoron?

If there were such a thing as basic human rights, what would you envision them to be?

The UN list is a good list.

I always like to point out that the Declaration of Independence declares that 'all men,' in the sense of all persons it is usually said, are endowed with certain unalienable rights, including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The first two are a clear enough pair of minimums, while the third is more vague. But it has a libertarian ring. Happiness, after all, is generally judged a personal and subjective matter, so the Declaration seems to endorse an individualist perspective on life, with self-determined aims.

Rights as a practical matter are just what one's fellows are willing to support on your behalf. The cases where support was absent and rights were violated with impunity, or even widespread approval, are countless. And it may be noted that the Declaration of Independence is not the Constitution, and has no literal force of law. But when it comes to marshaling the support of one's fellow citizens, the familiar words of the Declaration are a potent help. And I think it pertinent that the Declaration says 'all men,' not 'all citizens.' The writ of the Constitution is held by some not to run to foreigners, or to places like Guantanamo or Abu Ghraib. But the Declaration does not recognize any such limits. Its language is universal.

I'm kind of partial to FDR's 'Four Freedoms'.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Freedoms

OK, we have lists and documents, but what do they mean and how are they enforced.

DO we have a right to clean water?

Do we have a right to clean air?

Do we have a right to food?

Evidently not!

Just look around and notice the starving, breath some polluted air or drink a glass of questionable water.

Silly it seems to even contemplate a world where we were the stewards for the next of what was given to us at birth. Care for our fellow man without a thought of payment.

Wanting to leave more, just not to take!


Barney

In our legal system, the pursuit of happiness is codified as the pursuit of money. Locke's phrase was 'life, liberty, and property.' Jefferson introduced a sort-of radical twist to it, but in practice we've pretty much done it Locke's way. You can have all the food you want, and a neighborhood with a good water system, up on a hill out of the smog. You just need money. All your other rights are dependent on that.

So there we have it.