The property of rights

There’s something said today about the fact that “rights” are inherently given. Obviously, this wasn’t always true throughout history. But to do so is to create something separate in the ether that can be shared and understood.

I think about this. One of the things that has come to mind is that these “rights” are best understood in terms of “property.” To go deeper, we are then talking about owning our own rights (or freedoms for that matter). Which means property, by definition, can be disposed of, sold, given, used, taken away, and so on.

What I’ve been drawn to with this is how we so willingly give these rights away. Further, what is the distinction between when these rights are taken (extreme forms such as slavery) or when we trade our time for money in the marketplace (debt servitude)?

We become so accustomed to thinking one way that we forget to examine the reasons behind it.