The Faith of the Fourth
After many years of considering what role the Declaration of Independence plays in our Founding, and pondering the nature of the American creed, I've come to a simple answer. Essential to understanding the American creed are the rights the Declaration proclaims inherent in all human beings -- life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (and property! shouts a voice). But the foundation of those rights is even more essential to our understanding.
They're founded in our nature as human individuals. Each of us is created, by our Creator, equally human and equally uniquely individual. Or, as Philip Rieff put it in his final lectures, there is only one God and one You. (Here is a new paper of mine [pdf] on that line.) The Declaration adds a momentous footnote: this foundational truth may be confirmed by every human being in the exercise of his or her reason.
That's a powerful recipe for free republican government. Ultimately, I judge it to be the only one. Happy Independence Day.
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Jun '10
Re: The Faith of the Fourth
Amendment I: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. [...] Amendment IV: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
As I read these two amendments, they say clearly, Congress shall not "abridge" or "violate." Abridge or violate what? Abridge or violate what already exists. The message to Government is, leave things just as they are. The People have these rights, and Government's job is: don't steal or diminish what they have, as human beings. And back in the late 18th-Century, if you ever forgot where these rights came from in the first place, you could ask the nearest schoolchild.