"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." (2.1)
He did not claim, "some men were created rich,some poor ,but nevertheless entitled to a coke and a smile".
He wrote:
"that all men are created equal" ,a classic egalitarian concept. The United States of America constitution is an example of "Democracy" which is classified as an egalitarian form.
In order to understand the true fundamentals of egalitarian society we defer to an article written by Richard Borshay Lee and Adrienne Elder (cultural anthropologists) whom studied the Ju/'hoansi (pronounced "ju wasi" literally meaning: the first people) tribe in the Kalahari desert.
In the article Lee and Elder spend a great deal of time with the !Kung Bushmen and are not allowed to share the canned goods and artificial foods they brought with them to the desert. The egalitarian mindset is hunter-gatherer and they share all types of food equally. Desperate too be considered a "part of the people" Lee sets out to buy the traditional christmas ox for slaughter. When he finds the biggest,fattest one he can and brings it to camp,the !Kung people seem displeased with the ox. They berate and claim that some will go hungry and fight over the meal. He sets out to find another ox to ensure that there will be no fighting over christmas dinner. Lee finds that he has been tricked,and the ox was more than apt for equal portions. The people were simply teaching him the egalitarian way of equality. Lee went searching for redemption,praise,and a place among the people. He found his place but no praise as no one person was elevated above the other.
Definition of DEMOCRACY (mirriam-webster)
1
2
: a political unit that has a democratic government
3
capitalized: the principles and policies of the Democratic party in the United States <from emancipation Republicanism to New Deal Democracy— C. M. Roberts>
4
: the common people especially when constituting the source of political authority
5
: the absence of hereditary or arbitrary class distinctions or privileges
So what form of government is the United States today?
A Constitutional Republic - " a state in which the head of state and other officials are representatives of the people and must govern according to existing constitutional law that limits the government's power over all of its citizens. Because the head of the state is elected, it is a republic and not a monarchy." (wikipedia)
Some would argue that the constitutional system of "checks and balances" keeps the majority from being able to majoritize the country. While our founding fathers are quoted to have said:
John Adams
"In the midst of these pleasing ideas we should be unfaithful to ourselves if we should ever lose sight of the danger to our liberties if anything partial or extraneous should infect the purity of our free, fair, virtuous, and independent elections."
"Public virtue cannot exist in a nation without private, and public virtue is the only foundation of republics. There must be a positive passion for the public good, the public interest, honour, power and glory, established in the minds of the people, or there can be no republican government, nor any real liberty: and this public passion must be superior to all private passions."
Patrick Henry
"The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government."
James Madison
"We base all of our experiments on the capacity of mankind for self government"
Thomas Jefferson
"... God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty.... And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to the facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure."
William Pitt
"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants. It is the creed of slaves."
Benjamin Franklin
"Any people that would give up liberty for a little temporary safety deserves neither liberty nor safety."
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| (photo found on jadedjargon) |
Todays experiment is to write a list of freedoms you have lost in the time since September,11,2001.
Nicely done :)
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