The election is over, kind of.
Some states still continue to count ballots as they trickle in from wherever “late” ballots come from. But for the sake of the presidential election, it is over. Donald J. Trump is the current president-elect and will be America’s 47th president.
Nothing like that statement has caused polarization in this country in the last 50 years. Some Americans are beyond excited, and some are so deflated and disheartened that they have taken to moving away from the U.S., abandoning their sexual promiscuity in protest, or even to the extreme of self-deletion. However, according to Reuters and the World Health Organization, that last part is false, or at least isn’t tracked daily. However, one thing that brought Americans together was that both sides of the fence clearly agreed, at least as they went into the election, that the future of America was at stake and that a vote for the wrong side meant the destruction of our country.
My goal in the next several articles – yes, there will be more – is to approach the ideals of America given to us by our founders and, using the first principles approach, stack each side’s ideology up to those founding ideals.
Now, if you don’t know what first principles are, I would encourage you to read this article from James Clear (https://jamesclear.com/first-principles), which breaks down what it means and how to apply it. The basics of it, in my own words, are to break down a complex problem into its most basic parts and evaluate those parts to form an understanding of how things work. So let’s begin.
The Foundation
July 4, 1776, was the day our country was officially founded. Fifty-six delegates from the Second Continental Congress signed what is known as our country’s founding document, The Declaration of Independence, originally drafted by Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman and Robert Livingston. It was edited and adopted by the Second Continental Congress and signed by all 56 members.
Now, after that day, copies were made, revisions were done, and the documents were signed. The copy, considered the official document, was ordered July 9 and signed Aug. 2, but the overall idea had been established.
The idea behind this document, as well as others, was to separate the 13 colonies of America from King Goerge III and the Kingdom of Great Britain’s rule. They were to establish sovereignty and not be beholden to a government across the Atlantic, but rather to govern themselves.
The part that we Americans all generally know that defines our core belief system and that has been used throughout history, most notably in Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address 87 years later, is the second paragraph. It reads as follows:
“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. – That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, – That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”
So, following first principles, let’s break this down into smaller parts.
First, we see that the Second Continental Congress, known from this point forward as our Founding Fathers, specified the following truths to be self-evident. What does that mean? The dictionary defines truth as “the body of real things, events, and facts or the state of being the case.” It defines self-evident as “evident without proof or reasoning and defines evident as clear to the vision or understanding.”
So, we could say that the following is understood to be the case without the need for proof or reasoning. Basically, we can all agree that the following statements are true, and we don’t need to prove them here because they stand on their own and are unanimously accepted. Seems simple enough.
Next, we have the following: “All men are created equal.” Now, this one always gets people riled up, mainly because they take this very literally. But in modern times, some people forget that religion played a huge part in the day-to-day lives of almost everyone back then. Specifically, during this time period, the prevailing religion was Christianity. In Christianity, women came from man, and man is seen as the origin of all mankind.
So, while some tend to disagree and argue with the following statement, I am not going to dive into the “translations and meanings and theory” of it all here as we are limited on space. I am simply going to apply the modern-day ideology that the majority of civilized society believes, and I will state the following: The term “men” refers to both men and women as in mankind. If that wasn’t the meaning, then it is now commonly accepted.
So, using that ideology, we can determine that all of us are created equal. This means that we all start at the same basic level in life. Regardless of gender, skin color, mental fortitude, or physical capability, we all start at the same beginning. What happens after that? Well, that’s where we get into the nuts and bolts of the situation.
Next we have the statement, “that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.”
To me, this part is interesting because of how it’s worded. It specifies that their Creator endowed them with certain unalienable Rights. Given that Christianity during this time period was considered the religion practiced daily by most, it was written in a way that made sense for the time. Part of the reason for wanting to be separated from King George III was his position as the head of the Church of England.
The king believed he had supremacy over the entirety of the Church of England. It’s known that Christianity in itself has multiple denominations or belief structures. But to King George III, it was his way or the highway. So Catholics, Presbyterians, Baptists and Methodists, among others, all suffered persecution.
So, the founding fathers wrote “by their Creator,” which applies ownership to the Creator, and it opens the door to the mindset that man can choose his own path, his own religion, and his own beliefs. This, to me, is a key point in the start of the American foundation: independence to make one’s own decision.
Now we get to “unalienable Rights.”
What is that, or what does it even mean? “Unalienable rights” are rights that are inherent to all people and cannot be given up to the government. The term “unalienable” means something that cannot be taken away or given away. The idea stems from the philosophy of natural rights, which has a long history in philosophy from John Locke to Aristotle.
Basically, it’s something you have that no one gave you, which can’t be removed without force. It’s there, it exists, and how you got them is up to you, as in whether they came from which creator or not. But they exist, period.
Now I could write about this topic for days, but I won’t here, as we all generally accept the premise. But it’s important to know these things as we build the foundation. So what we have so far is the freedom to choose our creator (religion), and we all agree that we have a certain set of rights that belong to everyone.
Now, it’s time to discuss these rights.
The Declaration of Independence specifies a few: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
So you have the right to live. That one is easy. You are reading this, so you are alive. Check that off the list.
Next, you have “liberty,” but what does that mean? The dictionary defines it as the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one’s way of life, behavior, or political views.
This happens to be one of my favorites. Simultaneously, if you read that and don’t instantly shudder at the comparison of that statement and our current government, you aren’t paying attention. But let’s dive a little deeper.
“Oppressive,” what does that mean? Once again, the dictionary defines it as “unjustly inflicting hardship and constraint.” So for example, if you kill someone and the government puts you in jail, that isn’t oppression because it’s justified hardship and constraint.
So, how does one come to the conclusion of what hardships or constraints are justified? Furthermore, what constitutes one’s way of life, behavior, or political view?
We will get there, I promise, but know this is generally the metric by which all things are measured or should be measured. But for now, let us continue on.
The next one is interesting because some people mischaracterize it: “The pursuit of happiness.” They see this and think that happiness is a right, but in reality, it is not. The pursuit of happiness does not guarantee happiness; it is merely the pursuit.
Happiness is something you have to gain for yourself; it isn’t given to you. The way this is worded represents a consistent theme so far:The freedom to make choices seems to flow through the document’s tone.
The next two parts are pretty simple to follow and should allow us to come close to completing our foundation. “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” This specifies that for us to make sure no one else takes away our rights; we “mankind” will institute or put into place governments to regulate society, but that also, ultimately, “we” mankind/governed society have ultimate authority over our government.
Pretty straightforward. Does that mean if a cop pulls you over to give you a ticket, you should tell them that you paid their salary and they can’t give you a ticket? No, but do it anyway so I can request the bodycam footage! It means you are part of society, and together, you are more powerful than the government. Subsequently, it also means that the more society is divided, the less power we have. But that is a topic for another time.
“That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.” Aka, the reset button! Or, as Roman said in “2 Fast 2 Furious,” “Ejecto seato cuz!”
See, you thought I wouldn’t be able to work in some sort of movie reference. Joke’s on you; I have quotes for days. The idea is that if the government ever gets too big for its britches, we, as a governed society, have the right to put it in its place. This is an important point that I want to make because it played a key role in this election.
So, our foundation is set. We as individuals have the right to live, not be oppressed, and pursue happiness. We have the ability to establish a government overseer to ensure we maintain those rights.
If that government decides to go further, we have the right to put it back in check or replace it. We still have to define justified hardship or constraint, but as we proceed in the coming articles, we will measure those exact things against potential policy, historical policy, and the individual. Some of you may be surprised, some of you will disagree, and some of you probably didn’t make it this far. All of that is OK. I know this first part is kind of drab and for people who paid attention in history class, it’s old news.
As stated before, our country was on the ballot. Let’s examine how we did.