Once upon a time, people quoted this nation’s Declaration of Independence from memory. Americans used to take pride in the recognition that all are “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

These words by 17th- and 18th-century writers were written to remind those in government, not just in this nation but in all sovereign nations, of the limits of their power, of a moral boundary that must never be violated if the government is to retain its legitimacy.

However, people are now made to believe there must be a choice between life and liberty. Life vs. liberty. Freedom must be sacrificed “for the good of all” under new threats to life. What about the pursuit of happiness? You’ve heard the answer: We’re all in this together.

Redefining Freedom

For everyone’s own protection, all nations will now function under one universal law, global law. Freedom will now be redefined to mean — remain in your homes, shelter-in-place, social distance six feet apart, wear a mask in public, no group gatherings, invasive tests for viruses, including door-to-door testing, door-to-door blood collections, drug and vaccine solutions based on testing results, removal from your home for isolation, and follow the new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Guidelines for Public Schools:

• wear masks over age 2
• no sharing of any items or supplies, electronic devices, games, learning aids, or toys
• desks six feet apart, all facing the same way
• distance on school buses, one child per seat, skip rows
• install sneeze guards and partitions wherever you cannot space 6 feet apart
• one way routs in hallways; tap on sidewalks and walls to assure kids stay 6 ft apart
• no communal shared spaces – cafeterias, playground
• physical barriers or screens between sinks in bathrooms
• only pre-packaged boxes or bags of food instead of cafeteria food; kids eat in classrooms
• no field trips, assemblies, or external organizations in schools. Limit volunteer and visitors.
• same children stay with safe staff all day, no switching groups or teachers
• stagger arrival and departure times for students to limit exposure to crowds of kids
• stagger arrival and departure times for students to limit exposure to crowds of kids
• if possible, daily health and temperature checks
• rules about cleaning and disinfecting throughout the day and frequent hand washing.

Since when does the CDC create rules for schools?

Since the people allowed the words of the Declaration of Independence to evaporate from the English lexicon.

Since the creation of U.S. public schools by 1918, kids have been educated into a rote learning system of what to think without learning how to think. The main rule of engagement has been do not speak unless you are spoken to. Government public school rules blurred American ideals of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness from the start. They taught conformity and compliance over creativity, and uniformity over unity.

These new rules have suddenly and successfully derailed the founding principles of the Declaration of Independence. People are convinced they no longer have a choice about how they live their lives. Human nature has been reset. What changed?

Natural Law

The principles of “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” can only be understood from the perspective of natural law. Natural law says that rights are grounded in human nature. Human nature is universal and unchanging, consistent over the world and throughout history. Natural law is common to all humans. It comes from nature rather than from the rules of society. As a universal law, natural law does not depend on human understanding.

When freedom is defined under natural law, people can be confident that reasoned, objective, and moral agreements are common between all people – common law. Natural law was an ideal shared by the Founders. And it seemed to work, for a while.

If America in the 21st century is a divided nation, it is because Americans have forgotten that moral “rights” are grounded in nature. Today, objective human rights have been replaced by subjective privileges and preferences that must be protected by government from interferences with others (i.e. children’s rights, parental rights, gay marriage rights, LGBT rights, black rights, women’s rights).

The sanctity of individual preference soon balloons to include the idea of entitlements, preferences that should be supplied for by others. – James Jacobs, The Meaning of “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness,” Crisis Magazine, 2017.”

The Right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness

America once protected and honored the rights to Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. However, in the last few decades, we have forgotten both human nature and the God who created it. Little wonder why Americans sequester themselves away in their homes, under a new definition of ‘quarantine,’ afraid to gather with their own family, under a new definition of freedom.

Perhaps Americans were never free to begin with. Perhaps we have accepted the division between life and liberty because we are apathetic. Perhaps we no longer believe in “rights” because we have been systematically dumbed down and duped. Perhaps we have allowed fear to rule over happiness.

The three principles of the Declaration of Independence have too long been ignored and suppressed. Is that why they have been interpreted in new destructive ways to the point of irreconcilable divisions.

Is it too late to protect a way of life once lived? Too late to recapture liberty according to the truth of human nature? Can we in the land of the free protect “the common good” in the name of universal human rights? Is the American ideal dead forever or does it live inside each of us, waiting to be redefined and reignited?

If America is to survive as a civilization, we need to engage the public argument in order to rediscover the real meaning of these rights; we must agree on them as the common principles that constitute our moral union as a nation. – James Jacobs, Crisis Magazine, July 4, 2017