How Smart Were our Founding Fathers?

I want to get into issues pretty quickly, but I think it is important to give a good background on why I believe the things I believe. I think this will save a lot of time later.

I think that most people's political ideologies are formed over time; first through their parents and then through their experiences (and hopefully through their education, both formal and informal). So, to continue to give you a little background on my political formation and thoughts . . .

Aside from some glaring issues regarding who should be allowed to vote, and to whom freedoms should be ascribed, I think the Founding Fathers were pretty damned smart. Case in point, "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." Within this one phrase are so many signs of their brilliance.

. . . all [people] are created equal . . .

Think about what this phrase means. It is revolutionary for its time. It means that there is no royalty; there is no divine right of kings; anyone from any level of society can consider themselves as worthy as any other person; there is no reason so swear loyalty to any person. This part of the phrase is what makes the American form of government possible, and different from other Western democracies that still recognize a monarch as head of state (no matter how ceremonial that monarch is).

It also means we have no caste system, so anyone, regardless of race, gender, creed, bank balance, etc., can get ahead in society. Whether you voted for President Obama or not, he proves this to be the case. Well, he proves that we are moving in that direction. I think Secretary Clinton's rise to power (and near-nomination for the Presidency) is also an example of this.

One of the key points here is that we were created equal. This does not mean that this equality can and should be maintained. It means that we all have the same abilities and potential at birth. What we choose to do with these abilities and potential is up to us. This is what allows those who desire to do so to advance in society. This is pretty key to my beliefs. We are all born with potential but it is up to us, not anyone else, to do something with this potential.

. . . Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

This is the part of the sentence that really gets me, and that forms the basis of my political reasoning. Not only are these rights inviolate and not contingent upon the rule of law, but the Founding Fathers, I believe, put them in the correct order, which is something I think we tend to forget these days. The right to life (not in the abortion sense) is the most important, followed by our right to liberty, and finally our right to pursue those things that make us happy.

This was not a new concept, really. As stated by John Locke (not the Lost character), "no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions." And as stated in the Virginia Declaration of Rights, "That all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety."

All of my political beliefs flow from this concept and from the concept, as espoused by John Stuart Mill, that my rights end where your nose begins:

"The sole end for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively, in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number, is self-protection. That the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not sufficient warrant. He cannot rightfully be compelled to do or forbear because it will be better for him to do so, because it will make him happier, because, in the opinion of others, to do so would be wise, or even right...The only part of the conduct of anyone, for which he is amenable to society, is that which concerns others. In the part which merely concerns himself, his independence is, of right, absolute. Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign"

So, that is the foundation on which I began building my political ideology.