Democracy: a work in progress

Independence Day, 2007.

… in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity …

Many of the original settlers reportedly came to the American colonies seeking freedom; but about 150 years passed before another generation finally declared independence.

Once independent from British rule, Americans began an effort to define troubling words like “freedom,” “rights,” and “government.”

Some of the most fundamental questions that remained unanswered by the founding fathers were brought to a head by the Civil War – and weren’t actually resolved until … Well, truth be told, they haven’t been completely resolved to this day.

The Bill of Rights offers a lot more detail, but for me, the key to rights comes down to a single sentence from the Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all … are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

A good deal of attention has been paid to the “right to life” of late – those who oppose abortion and others who oppose the death penalty have put the phrase to effective use.

Outside those apparently irreconcilable matters – for which the “right to life” argument seems compelling to the same people in the case of one matter and not so compelling for the other (that is, folks who employ the right to life for opposing abortion tend to be unmoved by the argument that the same right should lead one to oppose the death penalty and vice-versa).

Perhaps the latter two rights – liberty and pursuit of happiness – can help find answers to questions now arising in arguments against “illegal” immigration.

Do those rights, which we hold to be self-evident and inalienable apply only to Americans. Considering our history – which can be defined by wave after wave of newcomers yearning to breathe free, it may seem strange to outsiders when the welcome at is removed and the latest pursuers of happiness are called “illegals.”

Is it enough to argue that open borders would result in a flood of unwanted new residents? Or is the principle (freedom) more compelling than such fears, particularly when it is obvious that immigrants have built our great nation – reinventing and refining it during each successive infusion of new blood.

These thoughts may seem to reflect too much idealism and could easily be labeled “pie in the sky.”

Rather like the idea of severing ties with the greatest empire in the world and claiming the right to self-government.