Sometimes when American cops deal with so-called "sovereign citizens" who believe they don't need a driver's license to drive a car on a public road, the cops will say "driving not a right but a privilege". Sometimes other people (such as youtubers who make videos about sovcits) repeat the same adage.
I wish they stopped doing that, because it's confusing and misleading.
Sure, perhaps for certain particular definitions of "right" and "privilege" that sentence might be technically correct, but for the most generally and commonly used definitions it's just false.
Consider it from this perspective:
Do you have the right to build a house in the United States (and other free countries)? Yes, yes you do. There is no law against it. However, that doesn't mean you don't have to follow the relevant laws, codes and statutes.
Do you have the right to create your own private business corporation to manufacture and sell products? Yes, you do. But you still have to follow all the relevant laws, codes and statutes to do it by the book.
Do you have the right to become a lawyer and practice law? Yes, absolutely you have that right. However, you still have to follow the appropriate laws and statutes to do it legally.
Do you have the right to a free lawyer if you are accused of a crime? Absolutely. However, you still need to follow proper legal procedure in order to get one.
Do you have the right to use public sidewalks to walk from one place to another? Yes, you do. However, you still need to follow and obey certain traffic laws in order to do so.
And, similarly: Do you have the right to drive a car on a public road? Yes, absolutely. There is no law against it. It's not forbidden, and you absolutely have that right. But, like all those other things, you still need to follow the relevant laws, codes and statutes in order to do so.
So yes, driving on a public road is most certainly a citizen right. That's what public roads are there in the first place! Thus, the sentence "it's not a right but a privilege" is just outright false, and I wish people, especially law enforcement, stopped using it. Just because you may need a driver's license to do so doesn't somehow stop it from being a right. It simply means that in order to exercise that right you need to follow certain rules and laws.
(In contrast, compare this to things that you do not have the right to: For example, you don't have the right to own slaves. You don't have the right to murder people. You don't have the right to destroy someone's private property without permission. And so on and so forth.)
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