Theory: The Origin of Rights

In responding to our readings I decided to focus on a couple quotes that I found interesting.

The first is by Paine. He notes, “Man did not enter into society to become worse than he was before, nor to have less rights than he had before, but to have these rights better secured (Paine 78)” This comment by Paine struck me as it relates to a lot of what we have discussed about rights. In theory this comment is pretty straightforward and rather obvious, yet as we have discussed, in our stratified world this does not ring true for all.

I liked what Rousseau had to say about war and I think that it is especially relevant to us right now. He says, “It is the relationship of things, not of men, that constitutes a sate of war, and since the state of war cannot be engendered merely by personal relationships but only by relationships between things a private war between man and man cannot exist… War is not, therefore, a relationship between man and man, but between state and state, in which individuals become enemies only by accident, not as men, nor even as citizens soldiers (Rousseau 51). This quote immediately made me think of the situation in Iraq and the rather ironic nature of war. We become enemies essentially over fighting for national interests, whether it be land, natural resources, power, religion, or the political and nationalistic gains of the state. These desires result in arm conflict and the loss of thousands of lives. On the surface war is fought man to man (or woman) creating enemies yet it is at the interest of the state.

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