What I Believe

It does not make a lot of sense to start a blog that is going to be about a specific belief system if you don't tell your audience what you believe in ... of course right now I have no audience whatsoever, but I'm hopeful! Before I wow you with my intellectual prowess, I want to ask you to do me a favor ... a bit audacious of me I know but stick with me. I have added a link to the Declaration of Independence; read at least the first few paragraphs as I will cite portions of them. I may cite others as well so I suggest you read the whole thing; yes put your latte down and read it!

I will wait patiently until you are done ... but hurry the hell up as I am impatient ... I'll get a beer while you are reading ...

The Declaration is a truly magnificent document ... but you have to feel it, you have to read it and then close your eyes and think about what it must have been like to be the men who signed their names to it ... turn back the hands of time and imagine you are sitting there with your pen ... not a Bic mind you ... and you are about to put your John Hancock down, pun intended, on a document that you know labels you a traitor and puts you, your family, your career, everything you know, everyone you love in jeopardy. It is so easy to forget how this country started and to view these documents as just documents, but they are so much more. I will not discuss why these men did this, I want to discuss what the words meant and not in the framework of the war of independence but what the framers wanted if they were successful in their endeavor. These words are the core of what I believe.

Let us begin with this portion from the first paragraph; "... and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them ... " You see the framers clearly believed in a supreme being but you will notice they did not specifically mention a religion, or Jesus Christ, Buddha, etc. Why? Well we know that the framers believed in freedom of religion or the right to believe in no religion at all (mind you that does not mean freedom from religion ... please take note you card carrying members of the ACLU). Now at this point I know many of you liberals are thinking this ... should I have the Venti or the Grande ... just kidding let's move on ... you're thinking ... great here we go another rant from a Christian right winger. Why is it important to discuss this portion of the Declaration? It is not because of the religious implications it is because of whom bestows rights on whom? Okay take a break for a minute and have a sip of your Starbucks, maybe read the sports section, clear your head and focus ... I'll wait ... and get another beer.

Let's move on ... the framers are clearly stating that something other than another man has given them their power to be free, to seek liberty, and to pull away from tyranny. You see the Declaration is saying here that man does not bestow rights on men, that there is a higher power that has provided every man with certain rights. This is critical! So pay attention ... in a nutshell (everytime I say or write that word I think of Mike Myers in Austin Powers) a man cannot give another man rights ... nor can man take them away ... but we know men have tried, are trying now, and will always try to do just that.

Before I move on, can I just say what was John Hancock thinking when he signed his name, was his pen really big? Let us continue ... the next portion to discuss is " 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". Now this is a fun one because I know what liberals always say here ... "Doug what are talking about the framer's were slave owners ... they didn't believe this stuff ... they were racists and you are too! Bush lied ... blah, blah, blah" ... really you have to get new material). Yes I know many if not all of the framers were slave owners and yes I know slavery was a very big bad wrong in our nation's history and I know the framers did not really include women in their equation either ... but we fixed those issues as a nation, yes they took much longer than they should have to fix ... and yes I agree they are not all the way fixed ... so can we all agree to move on to the bigger picture? Yes or no? If no mark the Bush Lied Kids Died response box below, log off, and go back to your newspaper ... or back to scratching yourself in your parent's basement ... or whatever else you were doing. For those that can agree let's move on.

I am going to finish digesting the above portion and wrap it up for the night as I am getting tired and want to go to sleep ... I am not going to bother with the definition of unalienable or the framers meaning of the word, I am simply going to focus on one word ... drumroll please ... and the winner is ... Pursuit ... now be honest none of you, the one person still reading this, would have guessed that I would focus on pursuit. What you do notice is that the framer's did not write that one has the right to a house, a car, healthcare, a job, dental care, condoms, peanut butter, spongebob, jelly, jelly and peanut butter, a jelly and peanut butter sandwich, medical marijuana, illegal marijuana, beer, Megan Fox (although I would have agreed with that one ... just kidding Jenni), they simply stated life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Why this is important is because we live in a "civil society" to quote Mark Levin's Liberty and Tyranny, we have to live together under the rule of law or we would have anarchy like they do in California ... I mean Somalia. But in this civil society we have, again, the right to life, and liberty, God given rights not man given ... and the only other right we have is the right to ... again drumroll please ....Pursue happiness.

In summary based on what I have written I believe the following:

I believe ...

1) In personal property rights
2) In personal responsibility
3) In freedom
4) In liberty

I believe that there are many in this nation and this world that believe that we as humans have the right to live like everyone else and to have what everyone else has ... I believe many of these people have given up on their right to Pursue happiness and that is why they support people who promise to make them happy and always fail to deliver on that promise. More importantly there are a few in this country and this world who know that people have given up on this right, who are advocating they give up ... these people know they cannot deliver on their promise and yet why do they do it? What are they in Pursuit of? ... Stay tuned and find out.

I will attempt to post daily so I hope you will read it! Please comment a lot and don't be afraid to debate ... although I must warn you come prepared ... I am! Good night and God Bless and don't be afraid to say "I live in the greatest nation on earth" right before you go to sleep, give it a try and see how it makes you feel :)