Statue of Liberty, 1901, Library of Congress |
Two hundred and thirty six years ago, a new nation appeared
on the face of the Earth, unlike any other. At its heart, with this core tenet,
the Declaration of Independence was radical:
We hold these truths
to be self evident, that all men are created equal…
Equality was extremely rare on the planet. The English had their Kings, the Catholics,
their popes, the Egyptians, their Pharaohs.
But here was a new country dedicated to the principle that we are all
created equal. The individual freedom flowing
from that simple principle has made us the greatest nation in the world.
All men are created equal – no one can tell you what religion
to practice, or not practice, or which words you may utter, or print, or with
whom you may associate.
All men are created equal – your property is yours, no one
may confiscate or use it without your permission or fair compensation.
All men are created equal – the government has no divine
right and serves only with the consent of the governed, the people, who have
the right “to alter or abolish it.”
It is important to note that we imperfect humans have not
perfectly implemented this equality, but have striven to achieve it, driven by
bedrock principle, over many years.
Witness the Civil War, the 13th amendment (slavery
abolished), the 19th amendment (women’s right to vote), the Civil Rights
Act, Title IX… the list goes on as we continue to perfect this belief in
equality. But to be clear, the individual liberty recognized
by our social covenant does not guarantee equal outcomes, rather it affords equal opportunity.
The results have been very encouraging. President Barack Obama, billionaire businesswoman Oprah Winfrey,
former Senator and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall (died 1993) are just the tip of the
iceberg. How about Meg Whitman, CEO of
Hewlett Packard, or Stanley O’Neal, former CEO and chairman of Merrill Lynch.
The incidence of successful, powerful, minorities and women continues to
escalate, all to our mutual benefit as their ingenuity and drive contributes
mightily to our collective success and well being.
Our founding fathers have given us a wonderful gift and our
military has sacrificed mightily to help us keep it. But whether we keep or squander it is up
to us. We can easily vote it away while chasing
a mirage of equal outcomes. Because with
individual liberty comes choice and responsibility - the freedom to make
choices and then being responsible for the outcome. If you want equality of outcomes, then we
must, perforce, yield up our liberty, forgo our choices.
Here is a better way.
Studies of census data have correlated individual behaviors to poverty
over the past 60 years, and some simple relationships have emerged. Ron Haskins of the Center on Children and
Families at the Brookings Institute, recently testifying before Congress, made the
following observation:
“… young people can
virtually assure that they and their families will avoid poverty if they follow
three elementary rules for success – complete at least a high school education,
work full time, and wait until age 21 and get married before having a baby.”
Haskins went on to say that young people following those
rules would almost certainly join the middle class and those who did not, would
not.
Three simple rules.
Individual responsibility. The
outcome is your own doing, for better or for worse. This is the cost, and the opportunity, of
freedom.
Excellent , and if I may ... God Bless America !
ReplyDeleteYoung people should also be required to watch the whole John Adams mini-series. Or (gasp) read McCullough's wonderful book...
ReplyDeleteYes indeed, God Bless America! As a reminder on July the 4th and our freedom here in the states.
ReplyDelete