Monday; August 28
There has always been a lot of talk about our “rights” as citizens of the United States. This discussion has been passionate and its presence in our social dialogue is understandable because our forefathers were convinced that their rights as citizens of the crown and as human beings were being trampled. It was set against this backdrop that Thomas Jefferson wrote, “ 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 .” If that wasn’t enough, the Constitution was amended to explicitly delineate certain “rights” the government must ensure in this new nation. In this Bill of Rights are the freedom to worship as we see fit, protection during criminal hearings and freedom from the government taking our stuff without a rule of law or stationing troops in our homes without our permission. As I review these historic documents I