Rights depend on membership in a political community that can recognize and enforce them. To have a right is to be part of a recognized order, and belonging means being accepted by those already inside. As later critics noted, this system protects those who qualify while leaving others vulnerable, showing that exclusion is not a flaw of rights but their basis (Arendt, 1951).

From the start, rights and personhood were grounded not in equality but in hierarchy. They determine who matters, who belongs, and who must obey. They derive their power from exclusion, not inclusion. The idea that someone needs permission to exist or be acknowledged secretly harbors corruption. What seems like freedom is often the most effective form of control (Foucault, 1976/1978).