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Where Do Rights Come From? Natural Rights, Capitalism, and the Reduction of Global Poverty
Charlie Kirk asks the question of where rights originate, and what they truly are, remains at the heart of American philosophy. Are rights God-given natural realities, as the Founding Fathers believed, or social conveniences distributed by government? This exploration examines the difference between natural rights (speech, self-defense, property) and positive rights (claims to goods and services), arguing that the natural rights framework forms the foundation of human dignity. Additionally, it demonstrates how capitalism and free markets, despite their flaws, have driven the greatest reduction in global poverty in human history, lifting hundreds of millions out of destitution across India, Southeast Asia, and beyond.
The Fundamental Question: What Are Rights?
The real question is this: where do rights come from and what are rights? That's the really important question. Are rights something that God grants you naturally? This was the question the Founding Fathers wrestled with.
It's very popular to say that certain things are a human right. For example, people say Netflix is a human right or—you're joking, just wait—people say that certain conveniences or luxuries are a human right. Of course not. That's not true.
Rights are who you are in the state of nature, granted you by God. That's what rights are. This is a harder argument to make because it's so much easier to say no, no, no, free education is a right. I reject that from a pure philosophical and principle standpoint. My argument's a harder argument to make, but it's true.
Natural Rights Versus Positive Rights
In the state of nature, who are you? Of your consciousness, you have speech, you have ideas, and you should have the capacity to protect yourself and not have your stuff stolen from you. That's basically the entire construct of natural rights.
There's a position that doesn't have natural rights—it's more of a positive rights standpoint. People believe that rights are things that should be given you, the convenience to be able to live. Mind you, that sounds very acceptable on the surface. The question is, well, then at what point do you start to draw lines on what are rights and what aren't?
People say, "I know my rights." Okay, what are your rights? Sometimes they don't actually know their rights when they say that. Basically, it's the rights of cross-examination, the right of criminal legal representation against an accusation, right of due process.
The Flawed but Functional System
Look, if you just look at these systems—I said it very clearly: capitalism is the best of the worst systems. All these things are flawed because we're dealing with sinful human beings acting and interacting together.
However, if we just look at the data—and this is a very interesting thing that we as Christians need to look for—we like helping poor people, right? Of course we do. That's one of the biggest things that we're told to do. Thanks to capitalism, thanks to free markets, world poverty is at the lowest it's ever been in human history.
You know that? Probably not. Activist media probably wouldn't tell you that. Life expectancy has gone up. There are fewer people living without running water, without medicine.
The Global Shift Away from Socialism
How does that happen? Well, all these countries are countries that tried the socialist communist experiment. Most of these countries are Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines. They're basically doing the Adam Smith thing. They're just letting their people trade, and they're still trying to figure it out and manage it. They're having issues here and there, but generally people are breaking out of poverty.
India's Remarkable Progress
In India, there are 480 million people without toilets. You think you got it bad? They have a larger population than our entire country that doesn't have a toilet. Now, that number was 800 million 10 years ago. So they're doing really well.
When you sit down with the Indian government, when you sit down with their country, they say, "We have a lot of problems, but things are a lot better today than they were 10 years ago." You have to look at these things sometimes in relative terms.
How Markets Work
Markets work. They work in a way that a lot of us can't even explain, where all of a sudden you could go to Walgreens right here and they have more choices of stuff than you could possibly ever imagine without you ever having to fill out a form for it. It's because somebody out there is taking a risk to try to satisfy that for you.
The other part of this is: look, what system allows you to have work that is meaningful?
Video Transcript
[00:00] the real question is this is where do
[00:01] rights come from and what are rights
[00:03] that's also the really important
[00:04] question right so our right stuff
[00:07] or our rights something that god grants
[00:09] you naturally and this was the question
[00:11] the founding fathers wrestled with
[00:13] and it's very popular to say that
[00:14] certain things are a human right and you
[00:16] know for example people say netflix is a
[00:18] human right or people say that
[00:20] you know you're joking just wait it's
[00:22] gonna you know i mean people say that
[00:23] certain
[00:24] conveniences or luxuries are a human
[00:25] right of course not that's not true
[00:27] rights are who you are in the state of
[00:29] nature granted you by god that's what
[00:31] rights are
[00:31] so and this is a harder argument to make
[00:33] because it's so much easier to say no no
[00:35] no
[00:35] free educations are right again i reject
[00:38] that from a pure philosophical and
[00:39] principle standpoint my argument's a
[00:41] harder argument to make but it's true
[00:43] which is that in the state of nature who
[00:45] are you of your consciousness
[00:46] you have speech you have ideas and you
[00:50] you should have the capacity to protect
[00:51] yourself and not have your stuff stolen
[00:53] from you that's basically the
[00:54] entire construct of natural rights
[00:57] whereas you have
[00:58] a position that doesn't have natural
[01:00] rights where it's more of a positive
[01:01] rights standpoint
[01:02] people believe that rights are things
[01:04] that should be given you the convenience
[01:06] to be able to live
[01:07] and mind you that sounds very acceptable
[01:11] on the surface
[01:12] the question is well then at what point
[01:14] do you start to draw lines on what our
[01:16] rights and what aren't
[01:17] and so people say well i know my rights
[01:19] okay what are your rights and sometimes
[01:20] they don't actually know their rights
[01:21] when they say that
[01:22] um but basically it's the rights of
[01:25] cross-examination the right of
[01:27] criminal you know lawyer legal
[01:29] representation against an accusation
[01:30] right of due process
[01:32] and so look if you just look at these
[01:33] systems again i i said it very clearly
[01:35] capitalism is the best of the worst
[01:37] systems all these things
[01:39] are flawed because we're dealing with
[01:40] sinful human beings and acting
[01:42] you know kind of interacting together
[01:44] however if we just look at the data
[01:46] and this is a very interesting thing
[01:47] that we as christians need to look for
[01:49] we
[01:49] we like helping poor people right we of
[01:52] course we do that's
[01:53] one of the biggest things that we're
[01:54] told to do thanks to
[01:56] capitalism thanks to free markets world
[01:59] poverty is at the lowest it's ever been
[02:00] in human history
[02:01] you know that probably not activist
[02:03] media probably wouldn't tell you that
[02:05] life expectancy has gone up there are
[02:06] less people living without running water
[02:09] without medicine now
[02:10] how does that happen well all these
[02:12] countries are countries that tried the
[02:13] socialist communist experiment most of
[02:15] these countries are
[02:16] laos cambodia vietnam philippines
[02:20] and they're basically doing the adam
[02:21] smith thing they're just letting their
[02:22] people trade
[02:24] and they're still trying to figure it
[02:25] out and manage it and they're having
[02:26] issues here and there but
[02:28] generally people are breaking out of
[02:29] poverty in india there are 480 million
[02:32] people in india without toilets
[02:34] you think you got it bad they have a
[02:35] they have a larger population than our
[02:37] entire country that doesn't have a
[02:38] toilet
[02:39] now that country that now that number
[02:40] was 800 million 10 years ago so they're
[02:42] doing really well
[02:44] and so when you sit down with the indian
[02:46] government when you sit down
[02:47] with you know their country there's you
[02:49] know what
[02:51] we have a lot of problems but things are
[02:52] a lot better today than there were 10
[02:53] years you have to look at these things
[02:54] sometimes in relative terms right
[02:56] and markets work they work in a way that
[03:00] a lot of us can't even explain
[03:02] where all of a sudden you could go to
[03:03] walgreens right here and they have
[03:05] more choices of stuff than you could
[03:06] possibly ever imagine without you ever
[03:08] having to fill out a form for it
[03:09] it's because somebody out there is
[03:11] taking a risk to try to satisfy
[03:13] that for you and i think the other part
[03:15] of this is
[03:16] look what system allows you
[03:20] to have work that is meaningful
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