Rights...or Wrongs?

As Americans, we have the right to enjoy life; to be happy. We have the right to obtain employ in the service of another. We have the right to decent housing arrangements. We have the right to affordable health care. We have the right to demand accommodation at a place of business of our choice.

Right?

Wrong. They are all wrong. As Americans we have none of these so-called rights.

Huh? But I thought--

No; you thought wrong. You do not have the right to enjoy your life or to be happy. You have the right to pursue happiness. It's an important distinction. Nobody except you can guarantee your happiness. This is a fundamental flaw in some people's minds. They either feel that somebody (usually government, but sometimes individuals or businesses) owes them something in order to appease them. They feel it is their "right", but it is most certainly not.

How about a job? Surely we have the right to work? Wrong again. It ties into the fact that nobody owes anybody anything in regards to happiness. Would a job be nice? Would it help get/keep you on your feet? Sure! But does that mean it's your right to have a job? Certainly not! This country was set up on the principle that if you bust your ass and work hard you may be able to make something of yourself and find employment. You certainly have the right to exercise your free will and attempt to better yourself. If you don't get anything out of doing that (or don't even bother attempting) then that sucks for you, but that's life. Nobody (especially the government) owes you any sort of job. As such, it is most certainly not a right afforded anyone in the Constitution.

So no right to a house? Definitely not. You have the right to not be discriminated against when purchasing a house, but that does NOT mean that if you can't pay the bill, that not selling you the house is some sort of discrimination based on class or poverty level. If you don't have the dough, you shouldn't get the digs. And nobody under any circumstances has the right to own their own home. Nobody has the right to even rent a home. I'm sure most if not all Americans want everyone to have their own home, but that doesn't make it a right.

You don't have the right to affordable health care. You have the right to not be killed, to be sure, but nobody owes you medical treatment unless you pay for it (or have pre-paid through insurance) This can be both unfortunate and sticky. While I don't support government-run health care, I do know that health care costs can quickly skyrocket for someone who is hospitalized. Most of the time, the monetary level of the person is indirectly proportional to the amount of medical costs they run up. The problem is far too complex for me to solve, but it seems to me it needs to be handled from both ends. If there are those reliant on government assistance, then they should be required to abide by certain restrictions which would ensure their health level to be as high as it can be. Otherwise the government is just dropping money down a hole. On the other end of the spectrum, insurance companies screw around with medical practices, not paying on time, refusing payment, underpaying, etc. (Yes, I speak from experience) This causes the doctors to raise prices to compensate, which then causes insurance companies to be even bigger sticklers. To top it off, frivolous lawsuits cause the doctor's malpractice insurance costs to skyrocket, which also forces doctors to raise prices to compensate. In essence, the biggest problem is that it's a continual cycle that just keeps spiraling out of control without check. As an aside - did you know that around the turn of the century (the one before the last), doctor visits cost 25 cents? House calls were 50 cents. Can you believe that? It can't possibly get back to anything close to that with our new expensive technologies, but it was still an amazing factoid.

Sorry - got off topic a bit there. Suffice it to say that while it does suck for a lot of people, it is not their right to have affordable health care. It is (imho) most definitely a privilege. Unless they amend the Constitution, then it will stay that way.

The final one I mentioned was the right to demand accomodation at your desired place of business. This is the one that seems to be most-utilized by those screaming about their rights being infringed. I wrote a post a while ago about eHarmony caving in to gay people who were screaming about their rights being infringed because they couldn't find gay partners on eHarmony's website. It was and is a ridiculous assertion that anyone should be able to demand service in this manner. You can't sue a business for having an American flag in its window just because you're from, say, Croatia, and they don't have a Croatian flag in there too. You can't force a business to sell free-range fed chicken just because you don't like hormone-infused meat. You can't demand a business owner converse with you in English, even when it's clear they cannot. I could go on, but you get the point. You, as the consumer, have the right to go anywhere you please to shop, but you do NOT have the right to have a business cater to your needs. As long as that business owner is not breaking any laws, they are within their full rights to conduct their business how they see fit. You, as the consumer, should just go somewhere else.

Far too often in this country, somebody's presumed rights trounce all over somebody's actual rights. Again, far too often, our judicial and legislative branches allow this trouncing to occur without impedement.

Can you think of any other rights that are...wrong?