Why do you have rights?

Answer 1

This is a philosophical issue. Different societies extend different kinds of rights to their citizens. It is possible to argue that everyone has certain inalienable rights with which they have been endowed by their creator (God) and which therefore do not depend upon the consent of other people. But in practice, you are only going to have those rights that you are allowed to have by the society in which you live. You may think that you have a right to freedom, but you can still be put in jail. You may think you have a right to life, but you can still be executed. And if your pursuit of happiness involves smoking pot, too bad, because that is illegal in most places, with some medical exemptions being possible (but no exemption is granted on the basis that you have a right to the pursuit of happiness).

So the answer appears to be, you have rights because that is the kind of society that we live in, as a result of decisions made long ago by various influential political figures. And if you want to continue to have rights, you will support political parties that believe in human rights.