All rights are property rights. The concept of rights is only meaningful if it can be reduced to property. Rights such as: speech, press, human, and any other right—are always property rights. To speak of rights without putting it into a property context, is aiming with your eyes closed. You may get it right, but you may be letting statism in through the back door, even if that is not your intention. Invented rights are mostly due to a sickness in the soul. Their collective violence is disguised as charity.
You have a right to your body through direct control. No one else has direct control of your body. Others can only move you indirectly. In order to move, you and only you, can move your body directly. You can then acquire land. Either the first user, gift, or exchange. It is usually exchange. For example, buying a house. You are exchanging money for a house. This house is your property. I’m not examining the property of the house or money.
We do have free speech. Why? We own our bodies and produce sounds with our own bodily equipment. We have a property in our speech. Does this mean we have a right to say anything anywhere in the world? Definitely not, but why not? Yes, we do produce sound and can say what we want as long as we are on property which allows it. For example, your own living room, an auditorium you rented, etc. You can’t walk in someone else’s living room and say what you want—you’d be violating that person’s property right.
We do have freedom of the press. Can anyone print anything? Yes, but who owns the paper and associated equipment? Just because you publish something doesn’t mean people will read it—you can’t force this on people. You can publish what you want, but the owner of the paper must approve it. Of course, you can start your own company and print anything you want. However, you’d have to fund all of the associated equipment. The right of the press is limited to property.
In the cases listed above, if viewed as property rights, all problems disappear. The cases are not limited to those listed above. There is no more confusion about what a right is. You have the right to make exchanges and contracts with property you own. All else is a violation of property, an aggression. The entire conflicts over rights can be resolved if they are viewed as property rights. There are not any rights other than property rights.
Reference
Murray Rothbard; The Ethics of Liberty
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