Rep. Akin: The Right To Food Is A Communist Ideal

Akin, however, went further to argue that like health care, the right to housing, food, education and work were flawed Communist ideas that ultimately brought down the Soviet Union.  Akin is wrong.  The rights Akin seeks to deny his own constituents are all guaranteed under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which the United States helped frame.

AKIN: Well, the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is something that is granted by God to each and every individual citizen. Nobody else gives you that. Only God himself. When you talk about a right to food, does that mean that the farmer has to be your slave and give you food which is the product of the sweat of his brow? I don't think so. We call that stealing. And so we need to be a little careful when we talk about rights a little bit too quickly because when you assume you have a right, then it's the government's job to enforce it and pretty soon you end up with public options or essentially one choice and that is the government running everything.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Article 25.
(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

Article 26.
(1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.