"Rights" You Do Not Have

M2RB:  Chris Brown

It just ain't right, no

A 'Right' Doesn't Cost Someone Else Anything

"A 'right' is something that doesn't cost someone else anything. Your right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness doesn't cost me anything. Your right to freedom of religion, speech, press, association, bear arms, to due process, to be safe in your person and property from unreasonable search and seizure, protection from taking without just compensation, freedom from the potentialities of double jeopardy, self-incrimination, cruel and unusual punishment, denial of habeas corpus, bills of attainder or ex post facto laws, direct capitation taxation other than income taxes, protection from slavery and indentured servitude, equality under the law, etc. These do not cost me anything. They do not cost anyone else anything." 

- Sophie, 15 September 2011

There is no right to Social Security, even if you pay into the programme for 50 years. See Flemming v. Nestor, 363 U.S. 603 (1960). Although the government does have a moral obligation to pay Social Security benefits, it does not have a legal obligation to do so. In Flemming, the Court ruled that a person does not have a “contractual earned right” to receive Social Security benefits.

There is no right to Medicare (and, by extension, Medicaid and Obamacare). See Heckler v. Ringer, 466 U.S. 602 (1984). The Secretary of Health and Human Services renders a "final decision" on the claim in the same manner as is provided in 42 U.S.C. § 405(g) for old-age and disability claims arising under Title II of the Social Security Act. Title 42 U.S.C. § 405(h), to the exclusion of 28 U.S.C. § 1331 (federal question jurisdiction), makes § 405(g) the sole avenue for judicial review of all "claim[s] arising under" the Medicare Act. The DHHS Secretary makes the final determination of what is covered and whether you are entitled to a particular treatment.

Patients whose medical care is provided by public funds have no constitutional right to whatever care [their physicians] using "the highest standards of medical practice"...may "judge necessary"... or to obtain that care "from a physician ... of their choice." - AAPS v. Weinberger, 395 F. Supp. 125 (1975).

Unlike the "right to die" or the "right" to have an abortion, the right to choose one's medical treatment may not be constitutionally protected. A US Circuit Court has ruled that a Medicare beneficiary may not even spend his own money to buy a service that Medicare regulations say is "unnecessary",  New York State Ophthalmological Society v. Bowen, 861 F.2d 1283 (1988).

By declining to hear the appeal, SCOTUS upheld the finding of the District Court that physician participation in Medicare was "voluntary." Underlying the constitutionality of the challenged legislation is the basic premise that each individual physician and practitioner "has the ability to choose whether or not to participate in the system." It is true that there will exist economic incentive or inducement to participate in the programme; however, such inducement is not tantamount to coercion or duress.

The government has promised that Obamacare will not come between you and your doctor. LOL! That's what it argued when it created Medicare. It has also said that physicians will be able to choose whether to participate. The doctrine of stare decisis is essential to the respect accorded to the judgments of the Court and to the stability of the law. It is not, however, an inexorable command. Payne v. Tennessee, 501 U. S. 808, 828 (1991). If the government can force doctors to participate and find away around the Thirteenth Amendment, it will try.

 

There is no right to public education. The states could close all public schools today. Public education is not a "right" granted to individuals by the Constitution. San Antonio Independent School Dist. v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. 1, 35 (1973). In Phyler v. Doe, 457 U.S. 202 (1982), the Supreme Court ruled that while there is no right to education, if provided, all must be allowed access to an education.

"...Today it is a principal instrument in awakening the child to cultural values, in preparing him for later professional training, and in helping him to adjust normally to his environment. In these days, it is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he is denied the opportunity of an education. SUCH AN OPPORTUNITY, WHERE THE STATE HAS UNDERTAKEN TO PROVIDE IT, IS A RIGHT WHICH MUST BE MADE AVAILABLE TO ALL ON EQUAL TERMS.” Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954).

There is no right to food. If the Federal government can prevent a farmer from growing food for his own family, then you have no right to food. See Wickard v. Filburn, 317 U.S. 111 (1942).  Further, there is no right to welfare (covered below), which includes food stamps.

There is no right to housing, Lindsay v. Normet, 405 U.S. 56 (1972). The Civil Rights Act guarantees only that access to housing accommodations be free of discrimination. There is no other major legislation that even mentions housing. A right to housing has been argued for since the New Deal and has lost every time.

There is no right to a job. You have certain rights in employment, but no right to be employed. In Craigmiles v. Giles, 110 F.Supp.2d 658, 667 (E.D.Tenn.2000), the Court ruled the state government could withhold occupational and/or professional licences and permits thereby preventing an individual from working in the area that he is both trained and wants to work. In 2007, the Ninth Circuit agreed with the Sixth, in Merrifield v. Lockyer, No. 05-16613, barring states from using licencing laws simply to protect established companies from competition. In that case the court held that states may use licencing laws only to protect the public in some way — not for the arbitrary purpose of promoting the economic interests of a politically powerful constituents.

The government can remove barriers to entry in the employment market. Right-to-Work laws are a perfect example. "[O]n the ground that insofar as they attempt to protect non-union members from discrimination, the laws are in violation of rights guaranteed employers, unions, and their members by the United States Constitution." Lincoln Federal Labor Union No. 19129, American Federation of Labor v. Northwestern Iron & Metal Co., 335 U.S. 525 (1949). “Right-to-Work laws] command equal employment opportunities for both groups of workers. Thus, right-to-work laws containing both a union- and nonunion-nondiscrimination clause clearly do not violate the federal equal equal protection clause. American Federation of Labor, Arizona State Federation of Labor v. American Sash & Door Co., 335 U.S. 538 (1949).

An employer has the right to terminate employment, but the employee doesn’t have a right to a job, Pickering v. Board of Education, 391 U.S. 563 (1968); Mt. Healthy City Sch. Dist. v. Doyle, 429 U.S. 274 (1977); Connick v. Myers, 461 U.S. 138, 146 (1983); Rankin v. McPherson, 483 U.S. 378 (1987); Garcetti v. Ceballos, 547 U.S. 410 (2006); Branti v. Finkel, 445 U. S. 507 (1980), among others.

There is no right to welfare. The Court ruled in Goldberg v. Kelly, 397 U.S. 254 (1970), only that welfare recipients facing "brutal need" are entitled to a due process hearing before benefits can be terminated.

There is not even a constitutionally-protected right to vote, per se.  The Court has recognised the fundamentality of participation in state "elections on an equal basis with other citizens in the jurisdiction," Dunn v. Blumstein, 405 U.S. 330, 336 (1972), even though "the right to vote, per se, is not a constitutionally protected right."  San Antonio Independent School Dist. v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. 1, 35 (1973).

We can talk about all the socialism that you want, but you have no right to any social service, which is different from other countries. India recently became the latest country to recognise a right to food.

If you doubt what I have said in this post, read the caselaw. You can either Google the case name or citation. Most are available on Google. Findlaw.com is free.

So Right It Ain't Right - Chris Brown

Girl you know I got a problem witchu, yeah
Cause you ain't right, no
Girl you ain't fair, no
You don't even seem to know how you be messin with me, hey
What am I spose to do
When all I wanna do is claim you
What am I spose to do
When you be lookin the way you do
You don't recognize
There's somethin about ya little mami
You don't realize
I wanna be witchu shawty


How am I suppose to keep my cool
When you be comin round
You be hangin out
Tell me what do you expect for me to do
Girl you're so right
It just ain't right, no
I forgot about how you look in dem jeans
The way you be walkin and workin them heels
Girl you jus don't know
I'm tryna be solo
But you're so right
It just ain't right, no


Girl you know you got me givin up on my homies
And I don't go out at night cause we do what I like
I don't even seem to care about nothin but you
What am I spose to do
How am I spose to go back to bein friends
What am I spose to do
How long do I have to pretend
You don't recognize
There's somethin about ya little mami
You don't realize
I wanna be witchu shawty

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