Natural Rights And Herbert Croly

5 Pages 1195 Words

“They did it, no doubt, in the name of democracy; but of all perverted conceptions of democracy, one of the most perverted and dangerous is that which identifies it exclusively with a system of natural rights” (Croly 81). To Herbert Croly, in his book The Promise of American Life, God or nature cannot secure individual rights. The entire nation, as a whole, must work to make sure that all of the people have equal rights and equal opportunity.
The American people’s loyalty to the idea of democracy, as they understand it, cannot be questioned. But what it means to them is more of an idea of popular sovereignty. The will of the people determines what the government should or should not do. For Croly, democracy means much more than just popular sovereignty. Although “there can be no democracy where the people do not rule,” a “government by the people is not necessarily democratic” (Croly 179). While individual freedom is important, the whole of a nation must create the future; thus no one person can do it. For this to work there must be equal rights for all individuals.
“A community in which no man or no group of men are granted by law any advantage over their fellow-citizens is the type of the perfect and fruitful democratic state” (Croly 180). The majority of Americans would contend that this arrangement is perfectly fine. Individuals are free to pursue the interests that they want, and all individuals can enjoy any liberties that one person enjoys. Under this arrangement, there should be no room for permanent legal privileges for any class of citizens. Equality is then associated with individual rights, when in reality individual rights do not always mean equality in receiving such rights.
The natural rights philosophy clearly won’t work for Croly. God or nature does not give equal rights and equal opportunity to all. Although all are born with the same rights, not all people are born with ways to att...