The Declaration of Independence is a quick refresher on the relationship between WE, THE PEOPLE, and our government.

“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.” Imagine the mind-gnashing and inertia-busting impact of the Declaration of Independence as written by Thomas Jefferson.
Let’s do a quick analysis. The Truths mentioned by Jefferson were held to be self-evident, meaning that they did not require proof, since their existence and reality is readily evident to everyone. The Truths themselves – all men are created equal, and, endowed with inalienable rights, were not well received by many at the time.
Created equal means just that – all are created equal. That does not mean that everyone acts the same, lives the same, thinks the same, or will have the same and equal experience. All of those are results from the second Truth – that each person is endowed by Creator with life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Life is the province of Creation, not government. Liberty is the province of Creation, not government. The pursuit of happiness is the personal, individual joy that is available to everyone in life, here and now. It is not the province of government. For people who have been accustomed to viewing some great, external force, such as government, as the source of their happiness and well-being, realizing that the achievement of well-being and joy is their responsibility is, well…something akin to coming to the party with three skunks in tow. That was true in the eighteenth century and it’s true in the twenty-first.
Accepting responsibility for one’s thinking, feelings, behavior and the resulting consequences, is not an easy step for many. We, the People, took that giant step as a collective society, much to the chagrin of the world. It’s taken us a while to sort the inalienable truths:

• Although created equal, our individual experience results from our thinking and behavior. Our experiences, joyful or otherwise, are direct results of the Law of Cause and Effect, not a capricious deity.
• We are alive and as such are participating in a greater Life transcending our immediate three dimensional moment.
• The pursuit of our happiness is a mandate given by Creation. Pursuing joy in life is not a “privilege” granted by a government, although anyone can become enslaved by a system, government, or other person. Simply because everyone has the inalienable right to pursue happiness doesn’t mean they have the understanding of Truth to achieve it.

Abraham Lincoln put it nicely: “Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” Charles Fillmore wrote that if you are unhappy with your life, change your thinking. Even John Maynard Keynes once wrote “When somebody persuades me that I am wrong, I change my mind. What do you do?”
The mischief, alas, resides in the commentary on the Bourbon dynasty in France - they forget nothing, and they learn nothing.”

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