When thinking about what society *could* be, rather than how it is, our founding documents provide a very compelling story.
"All men are created equal", expanded to include women, ofc. And including non-white men and women, who may not have been specifically excluded in the Declaration of Independence but were often excluded in practice.
"Endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of happiness."
Our Declaration says Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of happiness are 'among these' unalienable rights. That means it's not a complete list.
"That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." So pretty much the social contract, and a nice neat explanation of why we have a government in the first place. Not to make the rich richer and the poor poorer, but to secure our unalienable rights. It is supposed to be people focused, and it's legitimately depends on serving the people. Which leads directly to the very next sentence in our Declaration of Independence -
"That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem mostly likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."
Early Americans often called our government a 'Great Experiment', an attitude that I think we've forgotten over the years. It embodies a willingness to try different things and keep on trying until we figure out what works.
Like many human endeavors, there's what we state publicly and what we actually put in practice - and there is dissonance between the two. But the Declaration of Independence, when taken seriously, is a powerful tool that helps define our nation.
All men and women are created equal - whatever race or creed. All are entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness - at the very least. Our government should be designed to secure those rights for all, not just for the few.
And if what we're doing isn't working, then we can create laws, or constitutional amendments, or even (though preferably not often or easily. As our Declaration says "Prudence... will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes") changing it entirely.
I like to think what I'm writing is entirely in keeping with American traditions, from the Declaration of Independence to the Constitution. I don't really think it's radical, or foreign... though I have to wonder about that sometimes. Too many people seem to read the same documents I do and use them to justify beliefs that seem to directly oppose everything I understood about what we stand for.
It's very annoying.
Moving along, though. Let's talk a bit about 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness'.
Life is fairly obvious, though the argument over the death penalty shows that even that isn't cut and dry. 'Pursuit of happiness' also seems... well. Nobody seems to be trying to prevent us from pursuing happiness, and it's not like the Declaration gives any guarantees about finding it. (Though we do have a heckuva lot more research now on what, exactly, tends to make people happy.
Still, liberty is what we tend to argue over the most.
For good reason.
It's easy to think of liberty as - well, freedom to do whatever you want, really. But we generally don't have such freedom, and it's not just because of government... or because we need a job and have to follow corporate norms.
We are part of a society. And being a member of society has it's own set of obligations and requirements. I suppose that's part of what made The Good Place an interesting show. It asks us "what do we owe each other?"
Maybe back in the day you could find a remote farm out in the middle of nowhere, and not have to worry about what anyone else wanted... though tbh, even then there was generally some sort of community, with various expectations and obligations. There's a lot of research on farming communities, for example, and how they tend to cooperate to help each other out. There may even be a practical justification (if I help you harvest your crops when you're sick, or your machine broke, then you'll help me in the future when I have a similar problem), but in general it's done because it feels good. As the happiness research I linked to above shows, ties to each other (and our community) generally give us all warm fuzzy feelings.
Oh, and some farms may have been *mostly* self-sufficient, but they often still needed to buy plows (as one example), and sell their produce, and various other things that still tie them to a society and community at large.
Which is part of why it's not pure mysticism to say we're all connected to each other. What happens to one person can affect us all. (Particularly right now, as we're all affected by somebody who was infected by a bat.)
What do we owe each other? What obligations do we have as members of society? And how does our concept of 'liberty' play a role in that?
"All men are created equal", expanded to include women, ofc. And including non-white men and women, who may not have been specifically excluded in the Declaration of Independence but were often excluded in practice.
"Endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of happiness."
Our Declaration says Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of happiness are 'among these' unalienable rights. That means it's not a complete list.
"That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." So pretty much the social contract, and a nice neat explanation of why we have a government in the first place. Not to make the rich richer and the poor poorer, but to secure our unalienable rights. It is supposed to be people focused, and it's legitimately depends on serving the people. Which leads directly to the very next sentence in our Declaration of Independence -
"That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem mostly likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."
Early Americans often called our government a 'Great Experiment', an attitude that I think we've forgotten over the years. It embodies a willingness to try different things and keep on trying until we figure out what works.
Like many human endeavors, there's what we state publicly and what we actually put in practice - and there is dissonance between the two. But the Declaration of Independence, when taken seriously, is a powerful tool that helps define our nation.
All men and women are created equal - whatever race or creed. All are entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness - at the very least. Our government should be designed to secure those rights for all, not just for the few.
And if what we're doing isn't working, then we can create laws, or constitutional amendments, or even (though preferably not often or easily. As our Declaration says "Prudence... will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes") changing it entirely.
I like to think what I'm writing is entirely in keeping with American traditions, from the Declaration of Independence to the Constitution. I don't really think it's radical, or foreign... though I have to wonder about that sometimes. Too many people seem to read the same documents I do and use them to justify beliefs that seem to directly oppose everything I understood about what we stand for.
It's very annoying.
Moving along, though. Let's talk a bit about 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness'.
Life is fairly obvious, though the argument over the death penalty shows that even that isn't cut and dry. 'Pursuit of happiness' also seems... well. Nobody seems to be trying to prevent us from pursuing happiness, and it's not like the Declaration gives any guarantees about finding it. (Though we do have a heckuva lot more research now on what, exactly, tends to make people happy.
Still, liberty is what we tend to argue over the most.
For good reason.
It's easy to think of liberty as - well, freedom to do whatever you want, really. But we generally don't have such freedom, and it's not just because of government... or because we need a job and have to follow corporate norms.
We are part of a society. And being a member of society has it's own set of obligations and requirements. I suppose that's part of what made The Good Place an interesting show. It asks us "what do we owe each other?"
Maybe back in the day you could find a remote farm out in the middle of nowhere, and not have to worry about what anyone else wanted... though tbh, even then there was generally some sort of community, with various expectations and obligations. There's a lot of research on farming communities, for example, and how they tend to cooperate to help each other out. There may even be a practical justification (if I help you harvest your crops when you're sick, or your machine broke, then you'll help me in the future when I have a similar problem), but in general it's done because it feels good. As the happiness research I linked to above shows, ties to each other (and our community) generally give us all warm fuzzy feelings.
Oh, and some farms may have been *mostly* self-sufficient, but they often still needed to buy plows (as one example), and sell their produce, and various other things that still tie them to a society and community at large.
Which is part of why it's not pure mysticism to say we're all connected to each other. What happens to one person can affect us all. (Particularly right now, as we're all affected by somebody who was infected by a bat.)
What do we owe each other? What obligations do we have as members of society? And how does our concept of 'liberty' play a role in that?
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