November 4, 2012
Our
Declaration of Independence
When
was the last time you read our Declaration of Independence? More
importantly, when did any of our elected?
I recently carefully read this amazing document which details how and
why
our founders created America as
a sovereign nation over 236 years ago. Reading it caused me reflect
on who wrote it, what the words really meant to the writers...and
what they should mean to us today.
Obviously
the Declaration of Independence lives
up to its title as
notice to Great Britain stating the people of America intended to
withdraw from English rule. Growing friction between the Colonies and
Great Britain developed over many years, mainly because the British
Parliament collected taxes from
the colonists without allowing them any representation, thus leading
to the famous: "No taxation without representation".
Following
almost a year of fighting between the 13 colonies and crown soldiers,
the Declaration
of Independence, written primarily by Thomas Jefferson, was approved
by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776.
According
to Wikipedia, some scholars consider the second sentence in
this historical document to
be one of the best-known sentences in the English language,
containing the most potent and consequential words in American
History. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all
men are created equal,
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable
Rights, that among these are Life,
Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
No less than Abraham Lincoln stated the Declaration of Independence to be the foundation for his political philosophy, and he argued the Declaration is a statement of principles through which the Constitution should be interpreted. Of course, one only has to look at how long it took to overcome the horrors of slavery and women's rights to see that our nation's leaders didn't come close to following the equality principles for everyone for a very long time. Even Thomas Jefferson, who died on the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration's enactment, maintained significant slave ownership at his death. However, it also seems clear, the easily understood promises of this sentence would attract millions of future immigrants to America. This famous sentence was clearly the basis for what became known throughout the world as the "American dream".
No less than Abraham Lincoln stated the Declaration of Independence to be the foundation for his political philosophy, and he argued the Declaration is a statement of principles through which the Constitution should be interpreted. Of course, one only has to look at how long it took to overcome the horrors of slavery and women's rights to see that our nation's leaders didn't come close to following the equality principles for everyone for a very long time. Even Thomas Jefferson, who died on the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration's enactment, maintained significant slave ownership at his death. However, it also seems clear, the easily understood promises of this sentence would attract millions of future immigrants to America. This famous sentence was clearly the basis for what became known throughout the world as the "American dream".
Have
you ever carefully considered the real meaning of the words in this
famous sentence? It seems easy to understand the rights to life
and liberty;
however, the pursuit
of happiness
is more complicated and often subject to different interpretations.
More extreme liberals interpret this to mean we are all born with a
divine right to be happy with our life no matter what, and only a
large central government can ensure this outcome with a safety net to
catch those who fail, or even fail to try. Extremist conservatives on
the opposite pole, view it as absolutely only promising the right to
pursue happiness. If one succeeds that is great. However, if he/she
fails...that's just too bad.
As
I wrote in an earlier article, most of the people I interact with,
whether self-labeled as Democrats or Republicans will say they are
fiscally conservative and socially progressive. When pushed for
further explanation, most will say... and I believe it represents the
vast majority of Americans...they don't want our nation to waste any
money, but neither do they want to abandon the truly needy.
From
what I learned from other writings of several of our founding
fathers, it seems clear they
intended the more conservative view.
It seems apparent they only promised the right for individuals to
have the freedom to pursue whatever activities might bring them
happiness. If you failed that was simply too bad. You remained
legally free to repeatedly seek rewards required for your version of
happiness. However, failure which might be
accompanied by unhappiness, was to
be borne by the individual. Our founders promised no safety nets.
I
tend to support the more conservative views because any attempt by
man to institutionally protect others from their own failure always
seems to have unintended consequences. When one has a safety net
he/she can count on, history has proven many will make reckless and
foolish attempts to achieve success, because they are protected from
failure's consequences. Or even worse, many will simply not even
bother trying. The net result for the latter is often "generational
poverty/welfare" in which children learn from the actions of
their parents it is easier to accept welfare than make an attempt to
pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. I grew up dirt poor (as
they used to say) in the 1940s and 50s. We had no government welfare
programs. The only lesson most impoverished parents of my generation
taught their children was...if you want more than we can provide,
find a way to earn the money, or learn to do without. Should we have
safety nets for the truly needy...absolutely. Should we though,
provide those same benefits for those too lazy to try? I think our
founding father's intended words, carefully interpreted, would say
emphatically no.
Please
take the time to read the Declaration of Independence our brave
founding father's wrote over 236 years ago. Then ask yourself...have
America's leaders somehow gone astray from the original intentions of
this critically important document?
These
are my opinions. What do you think?
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