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With all the new democracies that have popped up around the world in the last 25 years (80 or so), none are based on the sovereignty of the individual, except ours. We're taking this opportunity to give a history lesson about our democracy, lest we forget. We begin with a segment of an interview with Senator Wallop.
Peter: We're happy to hear that you don't think the Great Experiment will die because the urge for freedom and individual liberty is innate and will always try to surface somehow. Would it be wise to characterize your opinion on the State of the Union as being optimistic.
Senator Wallop: Oh yes, that doesn't mean to say that it's doing some things I wish it wouldn't. If you look at America and any other nation in the world, including our friends the Brits, we're the only one fundamentally guided by our Constitution. The others may have Constitutions, but those rights are granted by government. In our instance, they are inherent in our nature. Our rights are not granted by government and can't be taken away by government. They can be toyed with, but never taken away. That's so fundamentally a unique concept.
The entire interview can be seen soon on our site under America, The Great Experiment, "http://peterandhelenevans.com/int-wallop.html"
It's good and necessary to remember what the Founding Documents really mean: For instance below are some excerpts from the Claremont Institute's site where you can find more questions and answers "http://www.founding.com/gohome.htm"
Does Equality Mean Equal in all Respects?
I think the authors of that notable instrument intended to include all men, but they did not intend to declare all men equal in all respects. They did not mean to say all were equal in color, size, intellect, moral developments, or social capacity. They defined with tolerable distinctness, in what respects they did consider all men created equal-equal in "certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." This they said, and this meant.--Abraham Lincoln, Speech on the Dred Scott Decision, June 26, 1857
In one meaning of the term "equality," the statement "all men are created equal" is obviously silly. We simply are not equal, or even very much alike. Joe is short and Harry tall. Jane is blonde and Brenda red-haired. Janet does her math with ease; Jeff struggles.
We are obviously not "equal," if equal means that we look alike, talk the same, run as fast, have as much money, or think as quickly as each other. Everyone knows this without being told. Thomas Jefferson--and everyone else in his day--knew it just as well as we do.
The term equality can be a little confusing, if we concentrate only on the human beings who are "created equal." That is because human beings are equal in some way or ways, but they are very unequal in many other ways. Perhaps the equality of people will be clear, if we consider some other kind of thing, some other kind of being. Perhaps there are beings, in comparison to which our equality to one another is clear, because we are so completely unequal to that other thing.
We do not have to look far, to find such a being. It is right there, in the Declaration of Independence. It is the Creator.
Equality Of Rights: What is the Basis of Human Equality?
To understand equality, then, we must understand rights. We are equal in our rights. That is the great political fact concerning human beings. It stems from the great natural fact that we are a certain kind of creature with a certain nature.
Let us consider exactly what this equality means.
Where Do We Get These Rights?
These rights of ours are said to be "unalienable." That means that they are ours. They belong to each of us, individually, and they cannot be taken away.
"Unalienable" means all this. And it means something more, something even stronger. It means that these rights are so firmly ours, that even we ourselves cannot give them away.
They are somehow beyond even our own choice. They are part of us, in the same way that our legs, our arms, or our hearts are part of us. We cannot choose to have four legs or three hearts. Nor can we choose to have more rights than we have, or fewer than we have.
These rights are then part of our nature created by God. If we know what our nature is, then we can understand better what our rights are.
Do Our Rights Still Belong to Us, Even When They Are Violated?
[The signers of the Declaration of Independence] did not mean to assert the obvious untruth, that all were then actually enjoying that equality, nor yet, that they were about to confer it immediately upon them. In fact they had no power to confer such a boon. They meant simply to declare the right, so that the enforcement of it might follow as fast as circumstances should permit. They meant to set up a standard maxim for free society, which should be familiar to all, and revered by all; constantly looked to, constantly labored for, and even though never perfectly attained, constantly approximated, and thereby constantly spreading and deepening its influence, and augmenting the happiness and value of life to all people of all colors everywhere.-Abraham Lincoln, Speech on the Dred Scott Decision, June 26, 1857
Rights, you may notice, are at least as often violated as they are respected. In Hitler's Germany, millions of people were murdered just because they happened to be Jews. In Stalin's Soviet Union, millions more were murdered because they happened to own small farms and did not want to give them up. Slavery was legal nearly everywhere in the world until well into the 19th century (Thomas Jefferson, the very author of the Declaration, was himself an owner of slaves). This is the sorry story of government, which has been mostly unjust and oppressive, right up to the current day.
In the Declaration of Independence, a difference is recognized between the actual enjoyment of one's rights, and the ownership of them. In the Declaration, we have our rights no matter what. Just because a person is persecuted does not make it right.
We may be persecuted, but we never are rightfully persecuted. We may be denied the exercise of our rights, but the rights themselves can never be taken from us.
Abraham Lincoln thought that the meaning of the Declaration consisted in the fact that it makes this point very clear. Once it is clear that we have our rights, then we can judge every action, of every government, by whether or not it protects our rights. In this way, Lincoln said, the Declaration provided "a standard maxim for a free society."
Rights Listed in the Declaration: What Are Natural Rights?
[American religions teach] honesty, truth, temperance, gratitude, and the love of man. . . . [w]ith all these blessings, what more is necessary to make us a happy and a prosperous people? Still one thing more, fellow-citizens--a wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities.-Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1801
Three rights are named in the Declaration of Independence itself: "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."
These three are plainly vital.
* Each person has a right to his life. Each of us is given a life, and it is naturally our own. To kill a person is to deprive him of something that belongs to him alone.
* Each person has a right to liberty, or freedom. Every person is born free, and he remains free unless someone deprives him of that freedom. To place a person in chains is to violate a basic right.
* Each person has a right to the "pursuit of happiness." No one can, of course, have a right to happiness itself. Happiness is an achievement. It depends upon our own work. It depends upon our own virtue. It depends upon good fortune. In the Declaration, we have the natural right to pursue happiness, because we have the natural capacity to pursue it, and because we will enjoy its benefit or suffer its deprivation ourselves. No one else can do that for us.
These rights are natural rights. They belong to us by nature. They belong to all people, in all times and places. Whenever they are taken from us, we are deprived of something that is naturally our own, something that cannot belong to another. --end of excerpt from Claremont.
It's interesting to note that the only duty of citizens listed in the Founding Documents is to "throw off a government that does not secure these rights". Of course, there are laws which have been passed by various Congresses and Judicial decisions, but only one duty in the Documents.
Peter and Helen Evans, "http://peterandhelenevans.com. This husband and wife team - international teachers, freelance writers and speakers - teach a philosophical approach to conservatism. They are also real estate agents in the Washington, DC area, and second year students in the St. Stephens course of studies.
Our culture is infected by false, diluted values from Socialism to New Age Spiritualism and seems to have turned its moral code upside-down. Peter and Helen Evans are culture warriors inspiring their audiences that they can make a difference. They believe that our politics are a reflection of our cultural values, and those cultural values grow from our belief or disbelief in God. In our democratic system, we get the leaders and government we allow. As culture warriors they inspire audiences political, secular and Christian. They are the authors of the book, "Get Serious: The Church's Stand on Contemporary Culture." They are available to talk on many subjects: How the New Age Spirituality has invaded our politics and culture and of course their book, Get Serious. Contact for topics.
 [Let's Get Back to Basics, Part 2]
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