There are ideas that an educated person in the West don't even dare to question, because they're ethical stances. Axioms upon which every other political idea rests. Axioms of human rights, the nation state, rule of law, race/gender equality, religious/political freedom and democracy. These ideas are fragile and easily subverted, because they are not universal or natural, no matter how badly we want them to be. They aren't truly superior. We just like our own ideas.
@thor
Depends a lot on how you define "rights." I take the old individual Natural Rights stance, which has three simple axioms:
Everyone has a right to life.
Everyone has a right to property.
You can do whatever you like with the above two as long as you don't damage someone else's life or property.
The individual rights protected by the US Bill of Rights can all be derived from the above axioms. Personally, I find it an elegant philosophy.
@skypage If rights are things people _ought_ to have, then those are as good as any, but they are only universal if you define property as mere possessions. If rights are what nature gives us, there is no right to property, and barely a right to life. For large swathes of people, that's what life is, and the rest is just wishful thinking.
@skypage The only thing you can depend on from nature's side is the law of the jungle, i.e. the right of the strongest.
@skypage I guess I am in a sense dismissing the very idea of rights as something other than a guiding principle. They're something in our heads, and are thus fragile.
@thor
The natural rights I mentioned are based on the law of the jungle, yes, though modern technology like firearms allows people to be on more equal footing if someone tries to damage them or their property. A body builder can be taken down by a paraplegic of the paraplegic is armed. People can assert their right to their property and life, as well as defend it.
@skypage The law of the jungle underpins everything else. You can't even enforce a right to life or a right to property unless you can defend yourself, which is basically what sovereignty is about.