The self-evident truths line is rhetorical and proves nothing. It is a statement of the premises upon which the rest of the document rests, but they certainly can be disagreed with. At the time, the Enlightenment was in full swing and so a line like that could probably stand on its own, but in the last 200 years the notion of natural law and a rational basis for everything has taken a real beating.
That’s really the root of our problems, why we’re drifting away from the Constitution and our founding ideas: a lot of people are skeptical of them. Many people would agree with the UN Declaration on Human Rights as a better basis for establishing rights than the Declaration of Independence. It’s the whole positive versus negative rights thing. The former rejects natural law and the notion of self-evident unalienable rights established in nature or a Creator (i.e. outside of human will). FDR sealed the deal in 1944 with his New Bill of Rights which was a flat out rejection of the Declaration’s understanding of rights.
But that’s the nature of things. Words on a page and the ideas they express can’t last forever. There’s a kind of entropy that changes things, and ideas are delicate things. In order to maintain them, you almost have to build a cult around them, as the religions do. You have to develop ritual and dogma and have a committed priestly caste to maintain them and make sure they are passed on to the next generation intact. We have been too casual about maintaining our founding ideas for this to happen. However, given the natural flux of human understanding, I actually think our ideas have persisted remarkably well. What they have going for them in my opinion is that they are true, and therefore they tend to work, but even that’s not really enough.
I actually think our ideas have persisted remarkably well. What they have going for them in my opinion is that they are true,
I see they are Self-Evident to you. (and to me)
It seems to me that it is human nature to seek the truth, unless you are taught that there is no truth. But then how could that be true?
Your post is one of the best I’ve ever read here at FreeRepublic, and that’s really saying something.
Your last paragraph is beautiful. Thank you.