Suthenboy is not a credentialed philosopher. Consult a credentialed professional before deciding.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” -Declaration of Independence of the United States, 1776

The notion of natural rights, that a person’s rights are inseparable from that person under any circumstances, is a relatively new concept and one that is and has been from the outset of its declaration controversial. It’s detractors say that it is an abstract concept existing only in the minds of its proponents. They claim that there is no objective evidence that such a thing exists in nature and thus that morality and ethics are arbitrary. I disagree.

Whatever our founders believed the source of natural rights they made and appeal to the divine to justify belief in them. Perhaps it was a somewhat cynical, utilitarian approach to appeal to a nation that was strongly religious.

“Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the gift of God?” -Thomas Jefferson

Certainly the founders were not monolithic in their belief in the origin of rights, but they were in agreement that they existed. I propose that whether a gift from God or simply existing by virtue of our nature objective evidence can be found for their existence. It does not matter where they come from, their existence is evident.

Few rational people would argue that our world does not function on naturally existing laws. The sciences operate on this premise. Science is a method for discovering what those laws are and how they affect ourselves and the world around us. The veracity of scientific discoveries is measured by the ability of those discoveries to make accurate predictions about how we and the world around us will behave. By this measure science is a far superior system than, say, astrology. Simply put, superior systems yield superior results.

An engineer that can produce a functioning spacecraft certainly has a superior grasp of the laws of physics and chemistry than one whose most sophisticated accomplishment is a dugout canoe. The production of a computer requires a far greater depth of knowledge about nature’s law than the production of an abacus.

Geologists have a deeper understanding of the earth’s structure than the guy who believes in turtles all the way down and so can produce petroleum or predict earthquakes and volcanoes whereas the latter cannot. The success of this system of knowledge is evidence of its correlation with natural law.

Those disciplines are based on an understanding of the naturally existing laws of physics and chemistry. Systems of morality and ethics are the products of ideas. Their success depends on how closely those ideas conform to the natural laws of human nature and economics.

To whatever degree societies have allowed individual liberty – that is the belief in and respect for natural rights – success by any measure has been exponentially greater than those societies that have not. The United States is the premier example of such a society.

The US has produced more wealth than all other nations through the history of mankind combined. The US contributed to increased worldwide health, wealth and longevity more than any other nation. The US has more social mobility than any other nation. The US produced air conditioning, flight, electricity, refrigeration, hamburgers, hotdogs, telephones, mass produced automobiles, atomic energy, chocolate for the masses, heart surgery, vulcanized rubber, computers and the internet. The list is nearly endless. As the joke goes “There are two kinds of nations: nations that do X, and nations that have put men on the moon.” Nearly everything that makes the modern world what it is is a product of the United States.

This wild success is the product of a belief in and respect for natural rights. Innovative individuals have been free to innovate and profit from their efforts. Individuals have been able to think, speak and act as they willed more than in any other society. By respecting the concept of self-ownership – that every individual naturally owns their mind, body and conscience exclusively and thus the product of their intellectual and physical labor – a powerful incentive for those individuals to strive for success is created. As a result the United States has flourished more than any nation in history and contributed mightily to the welfare of all mankind.

Simply put, superior systems produce superior results because they adhere more closely to the existing laws of nature. A belief in and respect for natural rights has unquestionably produced superior results.
* Fun story: During World War II my grandfather owned a pulpwood business and had a contract with the federal government to use German POW labor. One of the jobs he secured was in south Louisiana. He transported the POWs to the job site on a route that went through Baton Rouge. The first time the POWs saw the Wilkinson bridge they were awestruck. If you have occasion to cross that bridge pay attention to it. Most people that cross the bridge take it for granted but if you really look at the scale of it it is awe inspiring. It is easy to see how the POWs were barely able to believe their own eyes. What they said to my grandfather about it really stuck with me. “If we had known what America is like we never would have gone to war against you. No one can defeat a country that can build something like this.”