The Fundamental Value
The fundamental value underlying all claims to individual rights and freedoms is the good of human society on its broadest scale. This insight was clear to the founders of the United States, who wrote its constitution precisely to “promote the general Welfare” and who sought to establish justice, insure domestic tranquilly, provide for the common defense and secure the blessings NOT for a few individuals but for “ourselves and our posterity.”
The collective good is the reason for the formation of a United States.
"We the people of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
The other great insight of the founders is expressed in the 1st amendment to the constitution, which makes up what we commonly call the Bill of Rights. Without individual rights it is impossible to secure the common good. Only a people who are granted their fundamental rights can act together to secure for themselves and their posterity the goods enumerated in the opening paragraph of the constitution.
But even here notice what the Preamble states as the purpose of the Bill of Right: "in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its (the government's) powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government, will best ensure the beneficent ends of its institution."
Again, the purpose of the Bill of Rights is to give ground to public confidence and ensure the beneficent ends of government, which as stated in the preamble to the constitution focus on the public good. The rights protected in the first Amendment have a larger purpose, they are NOT an end in themselves.
Unfortunately we now have Americans and their political leaders who place individual liberties above the common good. Politicians like Gregg Abbott believe that the words: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;” means that in the name of religious freedom Americans and their churches can actually harm the common good by holding public worship in a time of pandemic; which is nothing less than participation in human sacrifice.
Others, and Gov. Abbott would be among them, believe that the “right to keep and bear arms” allows individuals to freely trade in weapons and feed the current epidemic of gun violence in the United States. Again, the common good in the form of domestic tranquility is completely lost as citizens live in constant fear of mass shootings and idiosyncratic personal violence at levels found nowhere else in the democratic world.
I realize that this peculiar interpretation of the US Constitution is furthered by a misreading of the US Declaration of Independence, which also demands some attention.
In this foundational document we read that there are three unalienable rights: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is to secure these that governments are established. And it is the failure to secure these that justifies separation and rebellion. Yet again, throughout this document there is no focus on the individual. It is the people who have a right to rebel, to form a government, and to secure a public welfare that consists of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
In short the individual rights found in the 1st Amendment exist not to promote the good of individuals, but to secure the good of society at large and the individual’s possession of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The first amendment rights are the means, not the end, and until we get that right we risk a long descent into chaos and anarchy as individuals assert their rights to sacrifice their fellow citizens on the altar of their supposed personal freedoms.
Call me a literalist, but those who claim to defend the Constitution might begin by reading it. They will find that securing their personal rights was not the reason our great nation was formed. Rather it exists to promote the common good, and that is the fundamental value to which each individual owes allegiance.
The collective good is the reason for the formation of a United States.
"We the people of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
The other great insight of the founders is expressed in the 1st amendment to the constitution, which makes up what we commonly call the Bill of Rights. Without individual rights it is impossible to secure the common good. Only a people who are granted their fundamental rights can act together to secure for themselves and their posterity the goods enumerated in the opening paragraph of the constitution.
But even here notice what the Preamble states as the purpose of the Bill of Right: "in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its (the government's) powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government, will best ensure the beneficent ends of its institution."
Again, the purpose of the Bill of Rights is to give ground to public confidence and ensure the beneficent ends of government, which as stated in the preamble to the constitution focus on the public good. The rights protected in the first Amendment have a larger purpose, they are NOT an end in themselves.
Unfortunately we now have Americans and their political leaders who place individual liberties above the common good. Politicians like Gregg Abbott believe that the words: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;” means that in the name of religious freedom Americans and their churches can actually harm the common good by holding public worship in a time of pandemic; which is nothing less than participation in human sacrifice.
Others, and Gov. Abbott would be among them, believe that the “right to keep and bear arms” allows individuals to freely trade in weapons and feed the current epidemic of gun violence in the United States. Again, the common good in the form of domestic tranquility is completely lost as citizens live in constant fear of mass shootings and idiosyncratic personal violence at levels found nowhere else in the democratic world.
I realize that this peculiar interpretation of the US Constitution is furthered by a misreading of the US Declaration of Independence, which also demands some attention.
In this foundational document we read that there are three unalienable rights: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is to secure these that governments are established. And it is the failure to secure these that justifies separation and rebellion. Yet again, throughout this document there is no focus on the individual. It is the people who have a right to rebel, to form a government, and to secure a public welfare that consists of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
In short the individual rights found in the 1st Amendment exist not to promote the good of individuals, but to secure the good of society at large and the individual’s possession of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The first amendment rights are the means, not the end, and until we get that right we risk a long descent into chaos and anarchy as individuals assert their rights to sacrifice their fellow citizens on the altar of their supposed personal freedoms.
Call me a literalist, but those who claim to defend the Constitution might begin by reading it. They will find that securing their personal rights was not the reason our great nation was formed. Rather it exists to promote the common good, and that is the fundamental value to which each individual owes allegiance.
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