Framers to our current generation: "We gave the right to the pursuit, never a guarantee of results!"

Good Tuesday morning Americans, where we all wake up with life and liberty and the potential to engage ourselves on this December 15, 2009 in the pursuit of happiness. It has been pointed out many times that our Declaration of Independence whose principles became codified in our Constitution, seeks this ‘pursuit’ as a basic right to every citizen of our country. The pursuit is the basic right; certainly not the guarantee that any or all will be attained. This is not a mere quibbling over words; it is the essence of freedom that allows each individual the right of pursuit. The framers had in mind that the state should not hinder or encumber the right of pursuit. Whether or not the state today both hinders and encumbers upon this basic right is much at the heart of many heated and ongoing debates. There can be no doubt there is a punitive impact when the weight of government intrudes upon the individual to the extent they find this pursuit very difficult to mount. We should be concerned about this for our children, their offspring, and ourselves.

Our history in providing this compelling right to every citizen is spotty at best. The treatment of the American Indian, slavery, and a myriad of discriminatory practices certainly disenfranchised many who were not equally provided for in their personal pursuit. However, we as a nation, imperfect, always seeking to constantly learn, and to develop and change in our attempts to do better in seeing that all Americans achieve the right to the pursuit. Many folks today have forgotten the great achievements of the past as they underestimate the power of this right unleashed when people are free to take risks to build upon their ideas, their innovation, and in the application of their God given talents and abilities. Too often in trying to address the problems of the past or in trying to turn the right of pursuit into the right to attain, we run the risk of killing off freedom’s greatest power source, the spirit of the individual. Will there always be those who will manipulate and abuse this right in seeking ill gotten gain? Absolutely. But we must remind ourselves daily that it is this right of pursuit that built our unequalled engine of ingenuity, and we would do well to draw a line in the sand as we see it more and more being eroded!

A common sense look at the world around us clearly shows that the right of pursuit does not always equal success. As for as life is concerned, some leave this life at an early age. Others have little or no liberty because of bad choices or other factors they have experienced. As for as happiness is concerned, you would have as many definitions as to what it means as you have folks in its pursuit. I have learned that true happiness is found in recognizing God and His love for each of us as individuals and in discovering that we can know Him personally through His Son, Jesus Christ. Those in power today see government as the means of providing guaranteed positive outcomes for all its citizens. Ironically, the more the government seeks to guarantee hapiness for everyone, it is the more illusive it will become in the lives of freedom loving men, women, boys, and girls. Something for us all to ponder as we busy ourselves in our own unique personalized pursuit! Amen. ….More later.