> We are born with god-given inalienable rights, constitutions exist to protect those rights from the government. The political realist take is that “rights” a

> We are born with god-given inalienable rights, constitutions exist to protect those rights from the government. The political realist take is that “rights” are not some abstract, static group of protections but the direct result of political activity. Women didn’t have the right to vote until they did. People had the right to drink until they didn’t, and then they did again. 18 year olds didn’t have the right to vote until they did. Secondly, one person’s right usually takes away something from another group or the government. The First Amendment takes away the ability for the government to punish speech they don’t like. The 13th amendment takes away a person’s right to own a slave. Previously, the deciding factor was force or capital. It sounds reductionist but “rights” is more of a description of how the political/legal system actually works than some abstract notion handed down from Heaven. What this means is that this list of rights can expand and contract with time, and it is in our interest to expand it as much as possible for as many people as possible. This takes active political participation because the default is for those who can command force (the government) and those with capital (wealthy people/corporations) to have power.