📜 The Founding Ideal
The second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence begins:
“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.”
These words are familiar, but their meaning is not universally practiced. As a nation, we fall short of the Rights we claim to uphold.
⚖️ What Is a Right?
Thomas Paine, in Public Good, wrote:
“A right, to be truly so, must be right in itself... But in the case of a right founded in right the mind is carried cheerfully into the subject, feels no compunction, suffers no distress...”
A Right must be morally justified—not born of conquest or violence. Yet many of our policies, both at home and abroad, are founded in wrong.
🕊️ Liberty vs. Freedom
Liberty and freedom are often conflated, but they are not the same. Freedom ignores obligations; liberty implies them. The primary obligation of liberty is not to infringe upon the Rights of others.
Despite talk of a “new world order,” America’s global institutions are rooted in monetary concerns—not moral ones. Our ventures abroad often disregard the unalienable Rights of others, undermining the very principles we claim to export.
🌍 Hypocrisy in Action
Even with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Geneva Conventions, America’s actions often mirror the tyranny it once rebelled against. The pursuit of Objects—wealth, control, influence—has ravaged relationships, environments, and the concept of Right itself.
The values of nonviolence and the Golden Rule, essential to the First Amendment, have become slogans rather than practices. Statutes now forbid liberties, accelerating as fiat currency fuels inflation in the name of growth
🛢️ Addiction to the Object
In his 2006 State of the Union Address, President George W. Bush declared:
“America is addicted to oil.”
But the addiction runs deeper. We are addicted to the Object—material gain, economic conquest, and psychological identification through possession. This addiction brings revolutionaries and terrorists to our doorstep, just as Britain once faced before our own revolution.
The American Dream was never meant to be a death-pledge—for us or anyone else.
🙏 Paths to Rectification
Whether Christian, Muslim, or simply an addict, there is a way to confront hypocrisy:
“The man who walks humbly with his God and is wholly free from guile is a blessed man indeed.”
From Islamic teachings:
“You should recite Dua in secret and always seek a private place, for retirement repels hypocrisy... Get 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.”
From the 12 Steps of recovery:
“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... Made direct amends to such people wherever possible...”
God, of course, as understood individually.
We have countless sources of inspiration founded in Right. But mainstream media often draws focus to rights founded in wrong. One only has to seek truth to find it
From Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Where Do We Go From Here:
“Through violence you may murder a murderer, but you can't murder murder... Darkness cannot put out darkness; only light can do that.”
“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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