Life, Liberty, And The Pursuit Of Happiness In The Age Of COVID-19

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 of the United States of America

Other important documents come earlier (the Federalist papers, etc.), others come after (the Constitution of the United States), but the Declaration of Independence is the document from which everything that follows is based.

It’s not a series of detailed political analysis and arguments (as were the Federalist Papers) nor a step-by-step guide for running a country (as is the Constitution) but it does succinctly express in clear language what it is we want as a nation, our grievances against the English government of that day, but most importantly, a summation of our collective hopes and dreams:  Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.

Recently we’ve seen some Trumpenproletariat types protesting the lockdown orders in various parts of the country on the claim it’s both “communist” and “fascist” (howda %#@& do you manage that?!?!?), and violates their rights.

Oh, really?

Well, let’s just take a look at what the Declaration of Independence says about that in the quote above.

Now, we’re not going off on any tangents by examining the term “men”.

There’s no doubt the signers the Declaration of Independence thought of “men” only in terms of white Anglo Christian or Deist males who owned property and not in the broader context of all humanity.  One of the inspiring things about the Declaration and other core American documents is that we can read them with ever widening circles of inclusion, so that “men” means “people” and “people” means all races / colors / creeds / genders / orientations / income levels.

Oh, yes, African-Americans received horrific treatment at the hands of the white Anglo majority in 1776, and native tribes fared no better, the cruelty inflicted on them differing only in kind, not magnitude.

But today it means everyone, including citizens of other countries, natives of other lands.

So let’s look at the first right listed:  Life.

If you don’t have the right to that, all the other rights are useless, meaningless, and utterly void.

(Now I know the Trumpenproletariat are chompin’ at the bit to take up the so called pro-life topic here, but not this time, folks; that’s another debate for another day, so try to stay focused).

We do not possess the right to kill or inflict unjustifiable harm on other humans.

That means you can punch the guy trying to assault you, it doesn’t mean you can walk down the street decking people at random.

The Federalist papers, the Constitution, and most of all common sense tell us it is not -- repeat NOT wrong to limit certain activities when they prove to be a risk to the public at large.

Social distancing for the coronavirus is no different from the fire marshal posting a sign saying only X number of people can be in a nightclub at one time because people have died as a result of overcrowded nightclubs and other venues catching fire.

So the first self-evident unalienable right clearly supersedes all the others:  It is our duty to conduct our affairs in a way to minimize our potential harm to others.

You want to go roaring along at 150mph in your car, do it on a sanctioned closed track, not in a school zone.  If you can’t grasp that you’re too damn stupid to be allowed out in public without a keeper at the end of your leash and a ball gag in your mouth.

Period.
Full stop.

The next right after Life is Liberty, and it’s the second most important.

If Life is the foundation upon which all other rights are laid, then Liberty is the frame for those derivative rights.  If we can’t decide what actions are in our informed and enlightened best interests, then we have no real control over ourselves and none of the remaining rights matter as they can be taken away in an instant if so desired.

But this brings us back to the principles of good governance; i.e., fire codes and traffic laws.  We recognize for the common good that we must abandon hyper-individualism and agree to certain limits on behavior; i.e., don’t pack too many bodies in a confined space, don’t travel so fast as to endanger others.

This is what social distancing is all about!

“We the people” agree there are certain standards we need adhere to in order to prevent a pandemic from ravaging tens of millions of American citizens, killing up to two million in the process if no steps to limit it are taken.

The only people who refuse to recognize that are sociopaths.

As Jesus taught “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God” (and don’t try any of your embarrassing sophomoric word games here; I’m an SBC VBS Bible Verse Quick Draw vet and I will clean your clock muy pronto), so I say “It is easier for a sociopath to become rich than to gain empathy.”

And those are the folks behind these astro-turf protests:  Wealthy people who fear they won’t make more than yesterday during the COVID-19 pandemic.

They say “3% fatality rates are acceptable” because they aren’t going to die alone in hospital isolation gasping for air because there are no ventilators available or trapped in their own bedrooms without medical attention because they can’t afford it. 

No, the billionaires are the Count Prosperos of this generation, and their towers will turn red and fall as a result of their stupidity (news flash for the cheap seats:  Being rich doesn’t mean you’re smart, it just means you have money). 

This desire to “reopen” the country is an obscene mirror-image parody of “the pursuite of Happiness”.

Let it be stipulated that the accumulation of wealth is one -- but not the only -- form of pursuing happiness, and that so long as no unjust harm is inflicted against any innocent third party, you go right ahead and make as much money as you can.

What you should never do is unjustly harm another in your pursuit of happiness-thru-wealth.

It’s a deliberately vague and confounding phrase to begin with, but note it doesn’t guarantee achieving happiness, just the right to “pursue” same.

Throwing away human lives on the chance we might be happy with the result in monstrous.  Do those doomed to die by such your scheme give up their right to their own life, liberty, and happiness?

So shut up with this faux “revolutionary hero” fantasy you Trumpenproletariats so fondly dwell in. 

Get involved in the real world for a change, not the demented ravings of an Adderall addicted TV clown.

© Buzz Dixon