A Right or a Privilege?
Michael Dewar, Author
August 10th, 2023
Rights vs Privilege
Some people find it hard distinguishing rights from privilege. But most people do not see them as the same, and I am one of those people.
I divide rights into primary and secondary. Primary rights are a state of being and becoming that are endowed by God upon all humans. The Founding Fathers recognized them as “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Secondary rights are freedoms conferred by law upon citizens, nationals, and in some cases refugees and visitors. They can be anything such as freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, and so on.
The rights of one person is limited, even suspended, where the right of another begins. The boundaries to individual rights or the rights of any special group are established by laws in a democratic society. My freedom is restricted to where my neighbor’s property begins. If I force myself onto his property, I have violated his rights and he is free to defend himself.
Privilege is a prerogative given to certain individuals after they have met certain qualifying conditions. For example, a physician, a nurse, a lawyer, a cosmetologist are given the privilege to practice their profession, because they have licenses as evidence of their qualification to safely provide certain services. They have a fiduciary responsibility, a trust to keep with the public they provide services. If that trust is violated, the privilege to provide the service can be withdrawn.
Running for President
Is running for President of the United States a right or a privilege? Personally, I consider it a privilege, a privilege extended to citizens that meet certain qualifications, and are willing to abide by certain required pledge and conduct if they win. This privilege can be withdrawn even when the person becomes President; there is a mechanism in place to effectuate such withdrawal of privilege. The President is not untouchable, not above the law or beyond its reach; the American people have elected no such person. He puts his pants on one foot at a time like the rest of us, especially when his term ends.
Running for President is also an ego trip for some individuals; they do it to burnish their credentials, but they have no intention of winning to enter such office. If successful, the ego trip runner is often more shocked than the public that elected him or her. The ego trip runner could become a real danger to the country as well as surprising everybody by serving well.
Egoism over National Security
It is usually assumed that the person running for president has the collective interests of the United States at heart over personal interest. But we now know that not every person aspiring for the office of the president ascribes to the value of national interest and security over personal ambition. We now know there are people among us that will sell our national interests and security to the highest bidder or even at bargain price.
If running for President of the United States is a privilege and some people take on that challenge to promote personal ambition, should the judicial system tailor the pursuit of justice based on the runner’s ambition, if the runner is accused or charged with a crime? Stated another way, should one person’s ambition take precedence over the nation’s interests and security?
What gives one person power over another in the United States? I used to think that in a democracy, the people give power, especially to elected persons. We have already established that delegated power or authority can be withdrawn. Voting a person out of office is one way to withdraw authority given. There are other ways of course.
But we now know that power in the United States is taken by those with the right color, and the most money. If you can commandeer the media, they will talk about them 24 hours a day, every day, if they bring ratings and money to the media outlet.
The uncomfortable truth is this—rich people become more powerful if we cannot stop talking about them. We create the monster and make-belief that we want the monster to go away. But if the monster goes away, we have nothing to talk about.
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