The second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence begins with "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." As many times as we all have heard these words, some individuals and groups may know and practice their meaning but as a nation we need not go far to show that's not the case.
A Right is morally good, justified, acceptable, or as Thomas Paine puts it in Public Good, "A right, to be truly so, must be right in itself, yet many things have obtained the name of rights, which are originally founded in wrong. Of this kind are all rights by meer conquest, power, or violence...But in the case of a right founded in right the mind is carried cheerfully into the subject, feels no compunction, suffers to distress, subjects it's sensations to no violences, nor sees anything in its way which requires an artificial smoothing."
Liberty is similar in meaning as freedom but they are not the same as described here, "the concept of freedom ignores the concept of obligations, the concept of liberty implies potential obligations." The primary obligation of Liberty is not to infringe upon the Rights and enumerated freedoms of another. We've heard presidents in the past speak of a new world order, yet the global institutions America holds steadfast are of monetary concern.
We have become unconscionable in our affairs as individual freedoms enumerated in the Bill of Rights have not been considered along with all humankind's unalienable Rights in our venture to bring "Justice and Liberty for all" to the world. A nation of hypocrisy has no right founded in Right to the endeavors we undertake. Even with the supplemental Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Geneva Conventions, three centuries of incredible industrial and technological growth leading to the globalization of our world, and the occasions of bloody war and horrible holocaust we are most likely guilty of the same tyrannical usurpation as Britain and it's king at the time of our Revolution, in the invariable pursuit of the very same Object: power, control, and material possession as an agent of psychological identification.
A pursuit of Universal Human Rights, Life, Liberty, and Happiness would have led us all to better lives and relations if not for the hypocrisy and infidelity in our affairs contrary to what we say we believe. Instead we have a state of affairs that resembles an economic conquest for Objects ravaging relations at home, abroad, land, air, sea, our concept of Right, and our stewardship of Rights.The values of nonviolence and the Golden Rule necessary to the freedoms of the first amendment have become said only and not done. Unchecked in the People and their Government, the pursuit of Objects instead of Values justifies a terrible creation and enforcement of statutes that forbid liberties. This fictional set of laws is set to accelerate just as the Usury of fiat currency procures Inflation in the name of economic growth.
As president George Bush stated in his 2006 State of the Union Address that "America is addicted to Oil", we are addicted to the Object and it gets clearer everyday. We bring terrorists and revolutionaries to confront our actions just as Britain did before. The American Dream is not a death-pledge for us or anyone else!
No matter if you're Christian, Muslim, or simply an addict there is a way to rectify hypocrisy:
"The man who "walks humbly with his God" and is wholly free from guile is a blessed man indeed."
“Everything rightful has a truth in it and no man will reach the truth of devotion unless he does not wish to be praise for what he has done for the sake of God.
You should recite Dua in secret and always seek a private place, for retirement repels hypocrisy. Nevertheless, if you are among people, you have to preserve your devotion which can not be attained except by getting to know:
1- God and the fact that everything is in His hand.
2- People and the fact that nothing is in their hand.
3- Human dignity, honor and endeavor.
It is in this case that people will not be important to you."
Or as steps 4-9 of the 12 steps indicate, "Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves, Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs, Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character, Humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings, Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all, Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others." God, of course, as it is understood on an individual level.
We have a vast array of sources to derive inspiration that is right founded on right, although mainstream media would draw it's focus on right founded from wrong, one only has to seek truth to find it.
I'll close with an excerpt from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Where Do We Go From Here" speech and the poem by Emma Lazurus that adorns the Statue of Liberty.
"I'm concerned about a better world. I'm concerned about justice; I'm concerned about brotherhood; I'm concerned about truth. And when one is concerned about that, he can never advocate violence. For through violence you may murder a murderer, but you can't murder murder. Through violence you may murder a liar, but you can't establish truth. Through violence you may murder a hater, but you can't murder hate through violence. Darkness cannot put out darkness; only light can do that."
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
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