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butterfly"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men 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." - The Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson in 1776
All my life, I've believed that. That all people have an equal right to be here on this planet. It's one of my most dearly held beliefs, right up there with my belief in God. If you're born here, then you have a right to breath the air, walk the land, love who you want to love, and do what makes you happy as long as doing so doesn't infringe on others' rights to the same thing.
Life: Simple, yes? Everyone has the right to live. To have enough food and water to survive. To have shelter.
Liberty: No person shall own another. No one has the right to take away someone's freedom.
The Pursuit of Happiness: Which never guarantees that you'll be happy. It just says that you have the right to try to find your own happiness.
These are the three cornerstones that Jefferson thought were the essential rights that you get merely by being born.
The tricky word is 'unalienable' or 'incapable of being repudiated or transferred to another'.
Because we lock people up and, occasionally, we kill them.
But only if they themselves violate someone's rights.
The definition of being ethical? Someone who lives their life without attacking someone else's rights to life, liberty, or the pursuit of happiness.
Every ethical belief that I have stems from that, though I didn't realize it at first.
That's my system of ethics.
All my life, I've believed that. That all people have an equal right to be here on this planet. It's one of my most dearly held beliefs, right up there with my belief in God. If you're born here, then you have a right to breath the air, walk the land, love who you want to love, and do what makes you happy as long as doing so doesn't infringe on others' rights to the same thing.
Life: Simple, yes? Everyone has the right to live. To have enough food and water to survive. To have shelter.
Liberty: No person shall own another. No one has the right to take away someone's freedom.
The Pursuit of Happiness: Which never guarantees that you'll be happy. It just says that you have the right to try to find your own happiness.
These are the three cornerstones that Jefferson thought were the essential rights that you get merely by being born.
The tricky word is 'unalienable' or 'incapable of being repudiated or transferred to another'.
Because we lock people up and, occasionally, we kill them.
But only if they themselves violate someone's rights.
The definition of being ethical? Someone who lives their life without attacking someone else's rights to life, liberty, or the pursuit of happiness.
Every ethical belief that I have stems from that, though I didn't realize it at first.
That's my system of ethics.