"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." -- from the preamble to the Declaration of Independence.
"It is an eminently good thing that the anti-suicide measure would require medical specialists to keep track of veterans found to be high risks for suicide. But that's to care for them as human beings, under that other constitutional right — to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." -- from a New York Times editorial.
A lot of bloggers have commented on this example of the Times' constitutional ignorance, but nobody I've read has made the obvious point that the Constitution is aimed at those values, even if the language doesn't directly say so. The whole point of the document is to protect us from interference, including from the government, so that we may craft our own lives. Of course, our right to pursue happiness has long since been replaced, in the minds of people like the Times editorial board, with the right to have happiness.
Comments
Now THAT...is one nail hit SQUARELY on the head!
Well said, Leo!
B.G.
[i] "The whole point of the document is to protect us from interference, including from the government, so that we may craft our own lives. " [/i]
Most people reading this text will not be pre-disposed to judge "protection from interference, governmental or otherwise" as forbidding government meddling in Americans' individual crafting of his or her own life.
We hold these truthes.
We... hold...truths.
We hold ... carbines. We fire semi-automatically... as needed.
We hold... semi-carbines.
I'd have to say the righties have been doing a pretty smashing job of trampling the constitution as well - warrantless wiretaps and suspension of habeus corpus anyone? or the intrusion of government into everyones bedroom?
I'd submit that the so-called "righties trampling the Constitution" while our troops are fighting overseas is not a matter of righties, as lefties would like to color it, but a common sense security measure which is resented by peaceniks in general.
Lefties are, in significant measure, the reason why our country must have volunteer armed forces rather than draft.