Drawing freely from the Declaration of Independence and the passing scene, and dividing roughly by topic, I hold these truths — these American ideals — to be self-evident:
Individual Worth and Dignity
- That all men and women should be equal before human law, as they are equal before the law and mercy of God.
- That each human individually is endowed by the Creator, not by earthly government, with certain inalienable rights.
- That among these rights (it’s a partial list) are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
This is the fundamental American ideal: we should be free to live our lives according to our own individual senses of happiness, as far as that is compatible with a free society which credibly attempts to balance the competing, legitimate rights of all individuals and to defend itself from enemies foreign and domestic.