A discussion on rights

A Libertarian acquaintance recently asked me if I knew of any good books dealing with the issue of democracy.

“I can’t think of any right now,” I said. “What exactly are you interested in?”

“Rights,” he replied. “I am curious about individual rights and democracy. I want to know which rights are alienable, and which are not.”

“But aren’t all rights alienable?” I ventured.

“I am not so sure,” he said. “I mean, after all, wasn’t America founded on the very principle of ‘inalienable rights’–such as ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’?”

“Yes, but you can alienate those rights.”

“How?”

“Well, if I suddenly decide to join a Buddhist monastery, for example, I probably would be foregoing my right to the pursuit of happiness, no?”

“No, because it could be only temporary. You could decide to quit at any time, and thereby reclaim your right to pursue happiness as we know it. Freely choosing not to exercise your right is not the same as permanently forfeiting the right itself. In other words, you have the right not to exercise your rights–but you do not have the right to alienate your rights forever.”

“But what if I decide to commit suicide? Wouldn’t I then be permanently choosing not to exercise my right to life, and wouldn’t this permanency then, in effect, amount to the irrevocable alienation of my hitherto ‘inalienable’ right to life?

“Or suppose I commit a nefarious crime, wouldn’t I then be forfeiting my right to liberty, and wouldn’t this constitute a form of right alienation?

“Or to take yet another example: suppose Mr. X damages my property. This naturally gives me a right to compensation.

“Suppose I waive that right? Suppose I forgive it outright? Or suppose I assign that right of compensation to another person? Am I freely deciding not to exercise my right? If so, could I then exercise it at some later point? Or have I permanently alienated my right in this case?

“I thought you said that certain rights were inalienable. Which ones?

“If you have a right, if you own a right, you ought to be able to freely discard it if you wish–otherwise, you do not really own it.

“Property, including the property of rights, entails use and disposal. If you can’t voluntarily give it away, if you can’t destroy it, it does not really belong to you. And if it does not belong to you, then who does it belong to? God? The government?

“Rights can be alienated–but only through reason and voluntary consent.”