We Hold These Truths - Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness - Do We?

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. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — Declaration of Independence 1776

The founding principles of our Nation are based upon certain truths, according to the writers of the Declaration, these truths are self evident, given to each man equally by their creator, and therefore cannot be taken away by any person or government.

Those truths are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

That, government should be established to secure and protect these rights (Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness) and the government should derive its power from the consent of the governed.

I believe these principles are the same today as they were in the 18th Century. Now, how does the government secure and protect our right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

The right to life; When our physical existence, our breath is taken or infringed
upon by another, it is the duty of the government to protect our physical life
and impose punishment on those who have taken or infringed upon another person’s life.

This also includes our right to live my life (pursuit of happiness) as we see fit, as long as we do not infringe upon another person’s life (pursuit of happiness) in the process. This means our choice of how we want to live while we are here upon the earth, whether we want to be a carpenter, plumber or doctor, or not work at all.

The outcome of the above principle is Liberty, when we personally benefit from our decisions, but the down side is we live by our choices when they are wrong.

Liberty and Freedom do not make a perfect world, and it seems we the people have lost our willingness to live by the consequences of our decisions. In order to remain free we must be willing to take responsibility for ourselves and not ask others to take our responsibilities.

When we ask one man to give of his money in order to give to another man his existence, we are hurting both men. The first, by taking of his life’s work which provided him the money and the second, the responsibility of providing for himself.

If we as a people continue down this thinking, we will surely have a nation of takers, because eventually the producer will stop producing.

A closing note, I am not advocating that we personally do not help those in need. I am advocating, helping others not be done by force, through the government.

A government big enough to supply you with everything you need is a government big enough to take away everything that you have.... The course of history shows that as the government grows, liberty decreases. -Thomas Jefferson