A Quick Thought on "Fundamental" Rights

There has been some talk lately about whether health care is a "fundamental right". The strange thing is that liberals claim it is - as if that buttresses the argument for universal health care.

But look back at The Constitution and the Bill of Rights and tell me what it says about fundamental rights. Basically, a fundamental right (like the right to free speech, free exercise of religion, due process of law, etc.) is something the government is not allowed to infringe (except when it is necessary to achieve a compelling government interest, but that test is not in the Constitution either).

So, if health care is a fundamental right (it is not protected by the Constitution or its Amendments so I have my doubts, but it would probably be rolled into the "privacy" right that was found in Griswold v. Connecticut and extended in Roe v. Wade), all that means is that the government is not allowed to infringe on your right to obtain health care - it does not mean that the government has to provide you with health care (any more than the government has to provide you with guns to avoid infringing your Second Amendment rights).

The only affirmative right is the Sixth Amendment right "to have the Assistance of Counsel" in a criminal case. No where in the Constitution does it say that there is a right "to have health care."

So, when a liberal tries to tell you that health care is a fundamental right, remind them that this does not support the argument for universal health care one iota.