This meme serves as yet another depressing reminder that leftists can’t grasp the concept that rights can exist outside of government.
In this image, we see a “Trump supporter” struggling to choose between concepts that are not mutually exclusive with the phrase “we don’t get our rights from government” on one side and “only U.S. citizens have rights on the other.”
First of all, the second phrase is technically false. While foreign visitors, legal or illegal, technically do not share the same Constitutional rights as American citizens, they are still afforded basic human rights under the law. This is why ICE agents aren’t allowed to beat illegal aliens senseless for crossing the border, and deport them instead.
Second, this meme tells us that the content creator didn’t read up too much on where we get the phrase “rights don’t come from government.”
This sentiment, which falls under the umbrella of “natural rights”, is a concept which emerged from the Enlightenment era — expanded on further by the likes of Adam Smith and John Locke. According to this theory, all individuals are born with God-given rights they then voluntarily cede to the state in exchange for some limited protections.
Through this understanding, you’ll find that citizenship plays a powerful role here.
~ Facts Not Memes
