Inalienable.................?

From time to time you may come across verbiage such as this:

All men are created equal and endowed with inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, rights guaranteed regardless of gender, race, or religion. If a man commits a crime, he may lose his liberty but not his basic human rights such as food and humane living conditions (at least in enlightened societies, anyway). No one is more human than the next person. If you breathe, you deserve basic dignity. Period.

On the surface it is difficult to disagree with the author's sentiments.  The history major in me, however, rebels every time I read stuff like this (my deepest regard for Thomas Jefferson notwithstanding).  I could create a list from now to next Thursday of times and places in the recorded history of man where the idea of such rights would be considered laughable.  Just consider the fifty year stretch beginning with 1930: Joseph Stalin, Adolph Hitler, Mao, and Pol Pot.  Between them the deaths of ordinary citizens by government policy run to tens of millions.

I believe we do ourselves a injustice by not recognizing what a special place the United States is (hence my deep regard for Thomas Jefferson, et. al.) in terms of personal liberty.  We do ourselves a greater injustice by not recognizing how fragile liberty is.  From a historical perspective, it is not the natural order of things.  Liberty and all those other "rights" are  inalienable, and deserved, only  to the degree we are willing to respect them, teach them, nurture them, practice them, defend them, and grant them to others - even then it's a crap shoot.

We are truly blessed.