A Celebration of the Individual
A Celebration of the Individual
by
Keith Engel (c)
July 4th 2006 and another day of celebrating Independence from the rule of Britain has come. Yet, this is not the only reason to be celebrating Independence Day for it is also a day of celebration for the Individual and the Individual Rights that were set down in the Declaration. The rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and in addition the right to property, are the rights that are being celebrated on this glorious day. Yet, what does it mean to be celebrating each of these rights and why is the right to property included with the three found in the Declaration?
To celebrate the right to Life means to celebrate the fact that your life is yours alone. Your life belongs to nobody else, rather this be another person, the state, or some other organization or entity. Nobody can lay claim to your life and just as this right is extended to you, so you must extend this right to other individuals. The right to life is the most important right because with out the protection of your right to life, none of the other rights matter. In order to ensure that your right continues on in existence you must be given the chance to live you life as you see fit.
This is the right to liberty. Liberty is the right to make decisions for your life based off of the fact that your life will require certain action and decisions to ensure its continued existence. The right to liberty is nothing more then having the freedom to live your life as you see fit and nobody can tell you how to live your life. It is not their life, getting back to the right to life, to inform you, or to point with a gun at your head, to tell you, what it is, you, are supposed to do with, your, life, or you possessions.
This brings us to the right not covered by the founding fathers and is excluded from the Declaration of Independence, the right to property. The right to property means that during the course of your life you will need to acquire items to ensure its continued existence. The first piece of property is that you own your own life, hence getting back to the right to life, and that your life is yours to live as you see fit, the right to liberty, and belongs to nobody else. Hence the right to property first affirms the fact that you own your own life, without the right to property your life is not yours. Next, the right to property means that any property obtained during the course of your life is yours to use as you wish or disperse with as you see fit. A few extra words on the right to property, the right to property does not mean that property will be given to you or that property should be expected. This is what the founding fathers didn’t understand about the right to property and hence why it was excluded from the Declaration.
Thus, with the understanding found in the above core rights the last right is derived and that is the right to the pursuit of happiness. The meaning of this right means that because you have a right to your life, the liberty to live it as you see fit, and the right to property to see to your continual existence, that you can live for your own happiness. Once more it is not a guaranteed happiness, but just that, the pursuit of reaching happiness with your life, by the means of the rights to life, liberty and property to see you to this end in life if you so desire to strive and achieve such a goal as happiness.
This is what it means to me to be celebrating Independence Day on a July 4th day. Yet, it is also a celebration of those individuals who live by these rights everyday and who strive to better themselves by living their own lives as they see fit and pursuing there own happiness. It is a celebration of the Independent Man, a dying breed and a mysterious figure long thought forgotten in lore and story. Yet, it this very figure of the independent man that needs to be brought back to the fore in America if it wishes to continue to have a future existence.
by
Keith Engel (c)
July 4th 2006 and another day of celebrating Independence from the rule of Britain has come. Yet, this is not the only reason to be celebrating Independence Day for it is also a day of celebration for the Individual and the Individual Rights that were set down in the Declaration. The rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and in addition the right to property, are the rights that are being celebrated on this glorious day. Yet, what does it mean to be celebrating each of these rights and why is the right to property included with the three found in the Declaration?
To celebrate the right to Life means to celebrate the fact that your life is yours alone. Your life belongs to nobody else, rather this be another person, the state, or some other organization or entity. Nobody can lay claim to your life and just as this right is extended to you, so you must extend this right to other individuals. The right to life is the most important right because with out the protection of your right to life, none of the other rights matter. In order to ensure that your right continues on in existence you must be given the chance to live you life as you see fit.
This is the right to liberty. Liberty is the right to make decisions for your life based off of the fact that your life will require certain action and decisions to ensure its continued existence. The right to liberty is nothing more then having the freedom to live your life as you see fit and nobody can tell you how to live your life. It is not their life, getting back to the right to life, to inform you, or to point with a gun at your head, to tell you, what it is, you, are supposed to do with, your, life, or you possessions.
This brings us to the right not covered by the founding fathers and is excluded from the Declaration of Independence, the right to property. The right to property means that during the course of your life you will need to acquire items to ensure its continued existence. The first piece of property is that you own your own life, hence getting back to the right to life, and that your life is yours to live as you see fit, the right to liberty, and belongs to nobody else. Hence the right to property first affirms the fact that you own your own life, without the right to property your life is not yours. Next, the right to property means that any property obtained during the course of your life is yours to use as you wish or disperse with as you see fit. A few extra words on the right to property, the right to property does not mean that property will be given to you or that property should be expected. This is what the founding fathers didn’t understand about the right to property and hence why it was excluded from the Declaration.
Thus, with the understanding found in the above core rights the last right is derived and that is the right to the pursuit of happiness. The meaning of this right means that because you have a right to your life, the liberty to live it as you see fit, and the right to property to see to your continual existence, that you can live for your own happiness. Once more it is not a guaranteed happiness, but just that, the pursuit of reaching happiness with your life, by the means of the rights to life, liberty and property to see you to this end in life if you so desire to strive and achieve such a goal as happiness.
This is what it means to me to be celebrating Independence Day on a July 4th day. Yet, it is also a celebration of those individuals who live by these rights everyday and who strive to better themselves by living their own lives as they see fit and pursuing there own happiness. It is a celebration of the Independent Man, a dying breed and a mysterious figure long thought forgotten in lore and story. Yet, it this very figure of the independent man that needs to be brought back to the fore in America if it wishes to continue to have a future existence.
posted by Keith D. Engel at
5:19 PM
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