
To objectively judge how something has progressed you go back to the beginning then move forward to the current state of affairs. For the sake of brevity and staying on topic we will not look at the War of Independence but will start at the Declaration of Independence. This after all is what proclaimed to the world that we had broken our political ties with and allegiance to the British Crown and is our true founding document. It also stated in no uncertain terms that our rights were endowed by our Creator and was therefore inalienable and inviolable.
So, I’m going to stop right here and say that if you do not believe in God, a Creator or some higher power that controls all of creation then you in essence don’t have a right to claim your rights are inviolate and for the sake of this discussion we are done as I will not argue the merits of whether there is or isn’t a God. In this discussion it is imperative that there is a God who gave us free will, the essence of liberty and that government is not God and therefore doesn’t grant our rightful liberties nor has the power to do so. So, we claimed the right to “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.” This is where we will begin to look at how the United States of America has progressed since then to here and now in 2020.
We shall begin with the right to life, how’s our government doing there? I’d have to say with all honesty that just using the facts of issues surrounding life the government has basically legalized the killing of innocent people through acts of police brutality in many forms whether it’s killing a suspected criminal through excessive and unnecessary use of force in the apprehension of suspected criminals to wrongfully killing innocent people through the mistaken application of no- knock warrants even more egregious when many of these were carried out at places that had no criminals and was a mistake making the warrant invalid. The use of no-knock warrants needs to be suspended as anyone responding to their door being broken open in the middle of the night would be right to conclude that their property was under attack and they would have every right to respond with deadly force. The other is the right of the president of the US government to capture, imprison and hold indefinitely without bail or right to legal counsel an American citizen on American soil by declaring them an “enemy combatant”. To have the right to indefinitely imprison an American citizen and basically kidnap them without notifying anyone where the person is or even that they’ve been detained is outrageous. So, it would seem fair to say that what progress the government has made has failed to protect our inalienable right to life.
Again, for the sake of brevity I will not get into a discussion on racial injustice nor the right of a president to declare an American citizen on American soil an enemy combatant and the loss of liberty is literally stealing a person’s life. We must stay steadfast and focused on how our government has progressed on protecting our right to life and with police brutality and legalized abduction it would be hard to conclude that government has successfully protected our right to life. It is also important for the sake of this discussion to remember that any injustice committed against any individual is an injustice against us all. No one is free if one of us is unjustly imprisoned, injured or killed.
Now we will look at how government has progressed in protecting liberty here in 2020. Liberty is in itself a very broad scope so this topic could grow quite lengthy so we shall again for the sake of brevity focus on a few general topics. First, we shall examine our right to travel unimpeded. This is where unquestionably the government has progressed on this issue and again has increasingly failed to protect our individual rights. Here we can look at the practice of police checkpoints, the total loss of the right to privacy for the “privilege of travelling by air”, and now executive orders by state governors or other lower level elected officials and bureaucrats when and where we can go, even having the audacity to choose whose livelihoods are essential and whose are not. This is an issue that the government at all levels has slowly taken our rights and trampled on them in the name of safety or national security.
Let us begin with our right to travel unimpeded. DUI or any other form of police checkpoints are immoral as they impede our rights to travel freely. Follow the link to court precedents on this here: https://wearechange.org/u-s-supreme-court-says-no-license-necessary-to-drive-automobile-on-public-highwaysstreets/ Add to this the fact that we are subjected to unreasonable search and seizures just to fly by a plane which in today’s world is a necessity is absurd. The TSA does not have the right to search anyone little less everyone without a warrant anymore than a police officer can stop, hold and detain anyone without probable cause. Israel doesn’t subject all air travelers to search and seizure and is arguably the number one target of terrorists so why should we when we claim inalienable rights to liberty directly from our Creator which government has no moral right or power to infringe upon unquestioningly accept? Again, we must conclude that government progress has not protected our rights but has slowly eroded them thus failing their responsibility to protect our rights to liberty.
Once again under the question of liberty I will discuss just one more topic for the sake of brevity and it’s our rights to freely assemble, practice our religion and the right to freedom of speech. The year 2020 will go down in history as a turning point in the eternal fight of liberty versus tyranny. This year we have seen all these inalienable rights trampled in the name of public safety. Freedom of religion has been specifically targeted with restrictions making it illegal to attend services of worship or other important functions such as baptisms, weddings and funerals with such stringent restrictions not placed on other businesses. Yet so-called peaceful protests and the funeral of George Floyd were allowed with hundreds of people participating without restrictions but political rallies in an election year were targeted and the venues and even counties holding them threatened by governors with impunity.
We are told to follow the science yet any medical opinion on the measures put in place that doesn’t fit the narrative is shut down and censored. Governors picked and chose which authorities to consult and follow when the WHO or World Health Organization has said that lockdowns are more dangerous than helpful but the lockdowns continue. There seems to be no restrictions on governor’s powers to declare states of emergency and issue executive directives with no timetable on how long they can use executive powers to strip the people of their rights. Once again government progress has left our rights and liberties in shambles.
Finally let us examine the right to pursue happiness. Here once again we have an extremely complex right so again, we will focus on two topics. First, is the use and or protection of private property. Here again government progress has failed abysmally. The fact that government can decide if and when we can use our private property especially in the case of small businesses is appalling. Property was considered sacred in the era of our founding.
Property goes beyond owning, renting or leasing a place to grow a business in the pursuit of one’s dreams. It is the right to do with it as one wishes and the ability to protect it against criminals whether they be common criminals or coercive agents sent by the government. The right of property and its disposition is fundamental to the pursuit of happiness yet several governors across the country have imposed draconian measures which have not only hurt business owners but all their employees and customers who depend on those services. Illegally and also immorally destroying lives, livelihoods and dreams if that’s not tyranny then tell me what is?
Then you have the example of a St. Louis couple the McCloskeys’ who upon having the gate leading to their home broken and protestors entering their grounds and heading towards their homes did what everyone one of us has the right to do. They grabbed their guns and warned the crowd to leave their property. In a world which has literally been turned upside down the couple were arrested for brandishing their firearms at “peaceful protestors” who had already broken into their private property. A government dedicated to protecting our individual, inalienable rights would’ve arrested the trespassers and those who tore open the gate not the homeowners who didn’t fire a shot while defending their property.
Lastly, we will briefly recap how the pursuit of happiness has been destroyed by the tyrannical actions of public officials in the midst of what has been called the Covid-19 pandemic. Arbitrary curfews, specific targeted closing of houses of worship and the right to travel freely without restrictions who you can and can’t associate with and even the restrictions on if you can pursue your livelihood.
All of these are essential to the pursuit of happiness. The right to worship God as we see fit especially in turbulent times is non-negotiable. These are the times when people of faith draw comfort through the practice of their faith and assembling with people of similar faith. To take it further and deny people from pursuing happiness through the shared expression of grief and support that a funeral provides is critical to the mental and emotional well-being of all humanity. The ability to share the joy of welcoming a child to the church or a couple choosing to be married in the presence of family and friends before God are treasured moments in a person’s life and can never be replaced and that also includes observing religious holidays which are times of joy and reflection.
Restrictions on travelling freely and who you can go to see or even invite into your home again is tyrannical. The mandates on masks, temperature checks and limits on gatherings again are egregious steps taken to trample our liberty and are inexcusable. Whether it be religious gatherings or political rallies it is our God-given right to do as we wish with no infringement by a government whose primary reason it was implemented with the consent of the people was to protect our essential liberties. In all these ways the progress of government’s actions has been harmful to the life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness that they were entrusted to protect. The year 2020 has seen the growth of tyranny emboldened by a silent populace who until now have yet to fight back for what is rightfully ours. The path to today has been filled with failures by the government, the media, world organizations intent on destroying our freedoms and religious leaders who failed to speak out as well as we the people who ultimately in the end will either decide to fight for our liberties or submit to tyranny.