Independence

Two hundred and thirty-three years ago tomorrow, the Continental Congress ratified the Declaration of Independence, a statement of the reasons for the thirteen American colonies to separate from the United Kingdom – but it has become something quite a bit more meaningful in subsequent history.

As a foundation for “the causes which impel them to the separation”, the authors state:

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.

Personally, I find none of these to be self-evident.

To me, it is supremely evident that all men (and women) are not created equal – that in fact no two people are equal in any respect.  We are all very different, possessing different strengths and weaknesses.  Some of us are better suited than others for various activities.

It’s also evident to me from observing nature and history that neither life, liberty, nor the pursuit of happiness are automatically granted by creation, evolution, or whatever you want to call How Things Got The Way They Are.  These three “rights” have only ever been secured by a lengthy struggle against their corresponding “wrongs” (to play along with the value judgment inherent in the term).

Nevertheless, I do agree with the Lockean notions of self-determination expressed in the rest of this document that led to representative democracy and the eventual enfranchisement of slaves and even women.  Why?  Because experience has taught us that although liberty and equality are not givens in life, institutions that impose artificial limitations on liberty and equality diminish our potential — individually and collectively.

It is not possible to institutionalize an effective recognition of individual differences.  Therefore, government must act as if we were all equal, and let our differences work their way towards their own best purposes.  Government must not circumscribe our liberties, even when we’re unfit to decide for ourselves – because the government is even less fit to decide for us.  Liberty means freedom to decide for ourselves, not freedom from the responsibility for those decisions — or their consequences.

On this Independence Day, I can be thankful that I live in a country that still lets me make most of my own decisions and reap most of my own rewards and failures.  But I worry that increasingly our government wants to make certain decisions for us, and protect us from the consequences of those decisions that still remain in our control.  Government, through a natural attraction towards self-preservation, wants to make itself indispensable.  Governmental involvement leads to a greater dependence on government, and that’s a trend to which I will never add my John Hancock.