One vital difference between Rights and Virtues is where falls the onus of the action.
In the exercise of Rights, you are petitioning an authority to grant something due to you. It does not require any effort or improvement of character on your part to get what is due. If the ones who are charged with guaranteeing your Rights do not themselves have Virtues (especially Prudence and Justice) then the situation is indistinguishable from having no Rights at all.
In the exercise of Virtues, which are habits according to Aristotle, you become a better person. It requires effort to change yourself so that the Virtues become more pronounced in you over time. The onus is on you for good social behavior.
This is where I have a major disagreement with Jefferson. Virtues are self-evident. Anyone can see Virtue in a man by observing his behavior. The ancients knew who had Virtue and who did not. Rights, on the other hand, are a recent development. They are not self-evident by observing behavior. One needs to be raised in an environment where you are told that people have rights before it becomes “self-evident”, as it was for the Founding Fathers. Anyone prior to 1500 AD would beg to differ that Rights were self-evident.
For Thomists like me and those trained in the theology of the Catholic Church, Rights are asserted without proof, but are convenient for interfacing with society. Given the current Administration, who show no Virtue in themselves and precious little respect for Rights, I would not trust Rights to protect me, but rather the Virtues.
The primary Virtue is Prudence, which allows you to determine who else has Virtues, and therefore who can be trusted in society. Exercise it whenever you can.
When you talk about the exercising of “rights” are you forgetting that the “unalienable rights” enumerated in that document are not rights afforded by a government instituted amoung men, but they are granted by an authority that is recognized by this government, that is sourced by an authority higher thatn ANY government instituted amoung men...
Virtue is not necessarily a biblical trait a person can master...God simply wants us to be able to tell the difference between what is right, and what is wrong...It can really be that simple...
When government comes in and tries to define such terms, and do so under the most rightious intentions, you still get flaws when government tells the people THIS is what is virtuous and correct, and this is the path the government is taking all of us...etc etc etc...
When this government turned its back on God, God did his best to continue to bless and keep this country on the straight and narrow...
Ask yourselves this question...
“Do you believe this country is still blessed by God???” (Be honest!!!)
“Do you believe we, as a nation, are capable of receiving the grace of God, after so long off the path???”
It may very well take some un-Godly and un-Christianlike action to get us on the correct course, and some people are not yet willing to see that just yet...
I do not believe we are ready...