re: #44 gamark

I would like to think that Obama believes people would have rights even in the absence of international agreements, but I’m not so sure that is the case.

Probably the most common misunderstanding about the civil rights in the USA is that the government “granted” her citizens those rights. I think this bit from the DoI explains it best..

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.