Have you ever thought about how long ago your human rights were articulated and accepted as law? The history of human rights is brief. There are only a few major documents that mark the milestones in the development of human rights. They are: 

The Cyrus Cylinder (539 B.C.)

In 539 B.C., Cyrus the Great conquered the city of Babylon. He freed the slaves, declared that all people had the right to choose their own religion, and established racial equality. 

The Magna Carta (1215)

Signed by King John of England, the Magna Carta gave the church the right to be free from governmental interference, the rights of all free citizens to own and inherit property and to be protected from excessive taxes. It established the right of widows who owned property to choose not to remarry, and established principles of due process and equality before the law.

Petition of Right (1628)

The Petition of Right asserted four principles: (1) No taxes may be levied without consent of Parliament, (2) No subject may be imprisoned without cause shown, (3) No soldiers may be quartered upon the citizenry, and (4) Martial law may not be used in time of peace.

United States Declaration of Independence (1776)

Constitution of the United States of America (1787) 

Bill of Rights (1791)

As a citizen of this country, I assume you understand the great leap forward these documents meant in the development of the human race. 

Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789)

The Declaration proclaims that all citizens are to be guaranteed the rights of “liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression”, showing that the French were simply following our lead. 

The First Geneva Convention (1864)

Geneva Conventions provided for the obligation to extend care without discrimination to wounded and sick military personnel and respect for and marking of medical personnel transports and equipment with the distinctive sign of the red cross on a white background.

And finally, The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)

This document was adopted on December 10, 1948 – 70 years ago today. 

Read it. 

There should be a link to the document as the first entry in this Facebook post. 

The first 20 articles are restatements of rights that have been generally adopted (in word, though maybe not in deed) throughout the modern world. Although Article 14 discusses a hot topic in our world today…

“Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country. Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution”.

But once you get past the first 20, some very important and innovative concepts are articulated. 

Article 21 is about how humans should govern themselves.   

“The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures”. 

Article 22 speaks to the dignity of each individual  

“Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality”. 

Article 23 articulates the rights of workers and the goal of all citizens to an “existence worthy of human dignity”.  

1. Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favorable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment. 
2. Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work. 
3. Everyone who works has the right to just and favorable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection. 
4. Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests. 

And Article 25 is a remarkable statement. In 1948, the world set a goal to developing a world by which the standard of living would be adequate for all citizens.  

“Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control”. 

How did we lose our way? Why are these not the issues we strive to fulfill? 

Many will decry this document as globalist bunk and a threat to our national sovereignty. I consider that a non-issue. Why doesn’t the United States embrace this document to guide our domestic policy? This is my agenda! This is my aspirational vision for our country. My peers; those who I consider “like minded” could raise this document as a banner; a rally flag for a new birth of freedom, liberty and prosperity. 

The United States was the first human collective body to declare that the power to govern resides in the citizenry and not in God and the monarchy. That was less than 250 years ago. 

70 years ago, we adopted a Declaration of Universal Human Rights. It’s time for us to lead the world to the higher ground of true equality and fulfill the aspirations of that document.