If “life,” liberty and the pursuit of happiness are “Inalienable Rights,” how can we have abortion and death penalty?
Generally, liberty is distinctly differentiated from freedom in that freedom is primarily, if not exclusively, the ability to do as one wills and what one has the power to do; whereas liberty concerns the absence of arbitrary restraints and takes into account the rights of all involved. As such, the exercise of liberty is subject to capability and limited by the rights of others.
The pursuit of happiness is defined as a fundamental right mentioned in the Declaration of Independence to freely pursue joy and live life in a way that makes you happy, as long as you don’t do anything illegal or violate the rights of others.
Wow, if you have “Liberty” and “Pursuit of Happiness” as long as you don’t do anything illegal or violate the rights of others, that leaves a pretty wide range of behaviors.
That is what was and is intended
In 1968, David Frost asked both Ronald Reagan to speak on the purpose of life. Ronald Reagan answered:
Well, of course, the biologist I suppose would say that like all breeds of animals, the basic instinct is to reproduce our kind, but I believe it’s inherent in the concept that created our country—and in the Judeo-Christian religion—that man is for individual fulfillment; for our religion is based on the idea not of any mass movement but of individual salvation. Each man must find his own salvation; I would think that our national purpose in this country—and we have lost sight of it too much in the last three decades—is to be free—to the limit possible with law and order, every man to be what God intended him to be.
> Generally, liberty is distinctly differentiated from freedom in that freedom is primarily, if not exclusively, the ability to do as one wills and what one has the power to do; whereas liberty concerns the absence of arbitrary restraints and takes into account the rights of all involved. As such, the exercise of liberty is subject to capability and limited by the rights of others.
Liberty is freedom tempered by the requirements of humanity’s social nature.
Our Liberty is based on our unalienable rights, correct?
The problem is that the government through progressivism, is constantly trying to erode the Bill of Rights, specifically our right to bear arms, property rights and due process rights.
So what is legal doesn’t necessarily comport with our liberty or our pursuit of happiness which is only possible truly with our possessing liberty.