As far as opinions go, I don’t know where to turn.
The overbearingly liberal beliefs that the
media “secretly” grinds into its “unbiased” coverage of the news? My parents’
conservative views rooted deeply in tradition? It’s too hard to pick a side.
So, I usually take easy way out
with a wishy-washy moderate view that I hope both sides can agree with. Don’t
want to offend anyone. Don’t want anyone to hate me. But there’s one thing I
won’t be a weak, sniveling coward about: the rights guaranteed by The Declaration of Independence.
With that
one, horribly over-quoted assertion, Thomas Jefferson forever changed the
world’s view on government. “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.”
Rights that
God gives you, that come from no government, that everyone is entitled to just
for being human aren’t too much to ask for, right? Especially for a group of
men living under some of the most corrupt tax laws in history, who hadn’t seen
their wives in months (#1776)…. Right?
Wrong, apparently…
So many little conventions of law
today quietly aim to prevent us from exercising the rights defined by the Declaration. Laws to protect the lives
of the most vulnerable in society—children especially—are not being made.
“Free-speech zones” on college campuses aim to restrict students’ liberty of
free speech to certain areas. Zoning ordinances, the illegalization of
marijuana, and that law that forces the Church to pay for birth control for its
nun employees throw pursuit of happiness out the window. Though we don’t
infringe on anyone else’s rights by growing our grass three feet tall, smoking
pot, or staying true to our religious doctrines, apparently it’s against the
law for us Americans.
Life. Liberty. The pursuit of
happiness. All are subtly sucked away from us by the black hole of legal
technicalities. What will it suck away next?
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