Rights come from freedom; freedom does not come from rights

T. Greer writes that

Only when power is decentralized – so that families and communities can solve their own problems without relying on their betters and can successfully resist actions imposed on them by others – is real liberty possible. Rights come from freedom; freedom does not come from rights.

Absent the power to defend and define one’s own freedom, rights and liberties are simply gifts from the machine. One should expect them to change with the whims of those manning the control panel.