“There can be no progress without a baseline measurement of one’s liberty. A measurable standard of rights to quantified or defended outside ideology, nationality or creed.”

Ideology is in many ways blinding. It forces you into absolute positions. You isolate yourself, you marginalize yourself. The left and right, the socialist and the capitalist are constructed paradigms that are not even speaking in these terms or using the same history. One can better see eye to eye on tangible projects when we use universal measurements, such as those found in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

On ideological terms, we declare a war on each other based on imagined values, and or utopian schemes. With rights, we measure public good in specific items.

Maslow defining Needs,

• Physiological
• Safety
• Health, well being
• Love, belonging
• Self Actualization/ capability

It can be estimated all Americans have mostly been granted a means for the first. The second and third vary by economic and racial apartheid, the last two are subjective.

Perhaps as much as 70% of the human race are not secure in these “needs”.

History is imagined as a Series of Struggles, these struggles forcing codification of “rights” from God-Kings, from Prophets, from ideologies, and finally toward rights as intrinsic. Rights not granted, but entitled to all. Not by Godheads, priests, kings, or governments.

• Hammurabi’s Code 1754 BCE (First known protections of subjects)
• The Laws of Moses 1300 BCE (First known universal codes of Justice, conceptions of public health, family law, and war conduct law basis on Judaism, Christianity, and Islam)
• The Magna Carta 1215 CE (First limitations on Monarchy)
• The English Revolution 1640 to 1660 (the First Republic based on Enlightenment values) 
• Acceleration of Slavery and Colonization.
• The American Revolution 1775 to 1783 (the First Democratic Republic, no female franchise, slavery maintained)
• The French Revolution 1789 to 1799 (the Second Democratic Republic, “Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen” reverts to Military Dictatorship under Napoleon)
• The Haitian Revolution from 1791 to 1804, slave revolt defeating France, England, and Spain in Hispaniola. Island embargoed and isolated until 1822. Arms and assists Bolivar in the campaign for liberation against Spanish in Lart America.
• The Bolivarian Revolution 1808 to 1819, Spanish rule is ended in South America and Slavery is abolished.
• Acceleration of Colonialism.
• World War 1 1914 to 1917
• The Russian Revolution 1917 to 1923, the first Socialist state.
• World War 2 1939 to 1945
• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948
• The Chinese Revolution 1946 to 1949, second major Socialist world power.
• The Cuban Revolution 1953 to 1959.
• 1966 “Civil Political Rights” vs. “Economic Social Cultural Rights”
• The Cold War 1947 to 1991
• The Pax Americana 1989 to 2004
• The Revolution in Rojava 2004
• The “Social Contract of the Autonomous Administration” 2016; human rights applied as a direct charter to liberated territory in Northern Syria.

So what “rights” are we speaking about?

These are the 58 extrapolated rights of the nine core treaties.

1 Protections for Non-discrimination

2 The right to one’s Life

3 Liberty and security of the person

4 Protection against all forms of slavery and servitude

5 Protection against torture

6 Legal Rights, jury of one’s peers and due process

7 Equal protection of the law

8 Legal remedy to redress grievances

9 Protection against arbitrary arrest, detention, or exile

10 Access to independent and impartial tribunal

11 Presumption of innocence until proven guilty

12 Protection against retroactively changes the legal consequences (or status) of actions that were committed, or relationships that existed, before the enactment of the law. (Ex post facto)

13 Right to privacy in regards to family life, home and all correspondence

14 Freedom of movement and residence

15 Freedom to choose ones Nationality

16 Freedom to marry and found a family

17 Protection and assistance in the support of families

18 Marriage only with free consent of both spouses

19 Equal rights of men and women in marriage

20 Freedom of thought, conscience and religion (beliefs)

21 Freedom of opinion and expression (freedom of speech)

22 Freedom of the press

23 Freedom of assembly

24 Freedom of association

25 A right to participate in government

26 Social security benefits for the retired and disabled.

27 The right to pick your work

28 Abolition of any compulsory or forced labor

29 Just and favorable conditions of work

30 The right to form trade unions

31 Rest, leisure and paid holidays

32 Adequate standard of living, water, food and shelter fir for human beings.

33 A free compulsory Education

34 Freedom to participate in cultural life

35 Self-determination of the community

36 Protection of and assistance to all children

37 Freedom from hunger and famine

38 Universal Healthcare

39 The right to seek Asylum

40 Protection of Private Property

41 Compulsory primary education

42 Humane treatment when deprived of liberty

43 Protection against imprisonment for debt

44 Expulsion of aliens only after a legal process allows it

45 Prohibition of war propaganda and incitement to discrimination and violence

46 Protection of Minority rights and cultures

47 No imprisonment for breach of civil obligations (?)

48 Protection of children

49 Equal access to public services

50 Participatory meaningful Democracy

51 Participation in cultural and scientific life

52 Protection of intellectual property rights

53 Promotion of an international and social order for realizing rights (right to Revolution)

54 Political self-determination

55 Economic self-determination

56 Women’s rights, inclusion and protection

57 Prohibition of the death penalty

58 Prohibition of apartheid

There is a framework for how to apply it. We can therefore deduce a universal indicator by a) identifying the individual right and b) applying the AAAQ minimum obligation criteria; measuring availability of schools (#), measuring access to schools (enrollments), measuring acceptability of school to their communities (survey data), and the quality of education given (survey data, grad stats, post school employment stats). It will be difficult, contentious and potentially expensive to turn (58) rights into indicators. It will be highly contentious to impose this complex indicator standard across countries and sectors. There is a right to life, education and employment (the HDI indicators) but all 55 additional rights must be factored in too. Because these rankings when taken into account will tell us who by action or inaction is causing peace and prosperity and who is causing misery, poverty and war.

In conclusion, using a rights based unity we can form alliances and coalitions not possible when uniting around ideology.

While this is still just pretty words back up by very little social policy or law, while we have rule of law we must work to enshrine human rights as constitutional and state rights.