A “right” is a moral principle defining and sanctioning a man’s freedom of
action in a social context. There is only one fundamental right (all
the others are its consequences or corollaries): a man’s right to his own life.
Life is a process of self-sustaining and self-generated action; the right to
life means the right to engage in self-sustaining and self-generated
action—which means: the freedom to take all the actions required by the
nature of a rational being for the support, the furtherance, the fulfillment
and the enjoyment of his own life. (Such is the meaning of the right to life,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness.)
The right to life means that a man has the right to support his life by his own
work (on any economic level, as high as his ability will carry him); it does
not mean that others must provide him with the necessities of
life.
The right to life means that a man has the right to support his life by his own
work (on any economic level, as high as his ability will carry him); it does
not mean that others must provide him with the necessities of
life.