It has to be said, that disappointingly, many Americans are pretty much clueless about where their unalienable rights originate from, and if put to the test, many of them would indicate that these rights come from their government. Not only is this answer fundamentally wrong, but such a viewpoint as that is dangerous, because if indeed our unalienable rights came from our governance, then those very same rights, could be taken away from us, by that government, at their whim. In truth, unalienable rights are indicative that we as human beings are born with those rights. Fortunately, we have a Constitutional government whose primary function is to be the upholder and thereby the guardian of our unalienable rights, and to the degree, that it is not, then such a government as that has betrayed its purpose to the detriment of the people, in whole.
It is important for people to comprehend, that the best government, isn’t necessarily that government that governs least, or that government that desires to be all things to all people, but rather that the best government is one that concentrates upon seeing that its citizenry has its unalienable rights secure and not subject to being infringed upon. That indeed, is the very purpose of our Constitutional government, to see that we as a people, are free, at liberty, and that the playing field that we thus operate upon, is fair and equally applied to all.
Indeed, it would be far better for the people to understand and to thereby acknowledge that this government is supposed to operate under the consent of the governed, and therefore the people should not be in the thrall of a government that violates their rights, but rather it is up to the people to remind its government and their representatives, that is their duty to act on behalf of the people, so as keep their unalienable rights, secure, no more and no less. So too, that government of the people, by the people, and for the people, must in its operation therefore be mindful that to lose focus of its purpose, or to aggrandize onto itself powers that are not enumerated for that government, is a betrayal of that Constitution.
Unfortunately, there is the Constitution as written, and then there is the application of those powers in actuality, of which, as time has gone on, more and more power has been ceded by the people, for whatever reasons, wittingly or unwittingly, to that government, which is less and less answerable to the people, and further compounds its legitimacy by acting on its own, far too often without appropriate oversight, without transparency, and without accountability to the people. Therefore, it is critical for the people to remember, that its government is not supposed to be a power onto itself, but rather it is supposed to be the guardian and thereby the protector of our unalienable rights, which when done correctly permits us to have quality lives of purpose and happiness. Instead, we live in a day and age, in which, many see their government as a force that talks a good game, but cares not a whit about being the guardian of the people’s rights, but rather prefers to do whatever it pleases, while desiring only that the people be obedient, and to not worry so much about their supposed unalienable rights.