AMERICAN VALUES
The United States is a nation founded on a set of core principles and values that have shaped its government, society, and culture. These ideals are often referred to as American values, and they continue to influence American political discourse and self-identity.
Here are some of the most fundamental American values:
- Individualism The belief that each person is unique and has the right to pursue their own goals and happiness.
- Equality The idea that all people are created equal and deserve equal opportunity to succeed. This is different from equity and equitable.
- Liberty The freedom to live one's life and make choices without excessive government interference.
- Democracy A system of government where the people hold power and elect representatives to make decisions on their behalf.
- Justice The concept of fairness and the application of the law equally to all.
- Rule of Law The idea that everyone, including the government, is subject to the law.
Individualism
The Declaration of Independence enshrined a powerful ideal: that all men are created equal and possess inherent rights, including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
This radical notion placed the burden of success on the individual, with the government serving as a facilitator, not a hindrance. Through personal initiative, education, and perseverance, citizens could achieve a good life. This principle became the cornerstone of the American Dream, a beacon that attracted people worldwide to this land of opportunity.
Equality
Equality stands as another cornerstone of American ideals. It challenged the rigid societal hierarchies of the past, where birth dictated your station in life. This new nation envisioned a place where each person, regardless of origin, held the potential to rise and shape their own destiny. This removed one’s life being controlled by fate or the “stars” and placed control over success and failure directly in the hands of the individual. Equality does not guarantee success or failure rather the opportunity for either.
Today’s catchphrase in politics and academia is equity and equitable instead of or in place of equality. Though the origin of these words is similar, they have distinctly different, and I would contend un-American, implications in their meanings. Equity and equitable imply a forced outcome, forced by a controlling influence, determining a guaranteed outcome based on arbitrary determining factors rather that the American ideal of equality and self-determination enshrined in the Declaration of Independence.
It's important to clarify that slavery, an embodiment of profound inequality, directly contradicted these founding principles. While brought from England, it continued in the colonies, long before the founding on the United States. Though abolition efforts emerged during the Constitutional Convention, a compromise postponed its demise. Decades later, the festering issue of slavery erupted in the Civil War, ultimately leading to its abolishment and a significant step towards a more equitable society.
There are efforts to portray the United States as a country founded on an evil foundation because we had slavery from the beginning. This is a disingenuous effort because slavery came from England and other countries. From the beginning of our constitutional founding slavery was on its way out and was eliminated by the Civil War. The argument is false and an attempt to undermine this great country.
Liberty
Liberty is a core concept in America, dating back to the founding fathers who included it in both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
The foundational components of Liberty are
- Natural Rights
- Limited Government , and
- Civil Liberties
Natural Rights
This is the fundamental idea of Liberty, that people are born with inherent rights, like life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness cannot be taken away by any government. This is the basis of the United States, not to be confused with the concept of Natural Law, which disregards the idea of the Rule of Law.
Limited Government
The government's role is to protect these rights and not infringe upon them. This is reflected in the structure of the Constitution with its checks and balances.
Civil Liberties
These are enshrined in the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the Constitution. They guarantee freedoms like freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly, and the right to bear arms.
Liberty is a complex and ever shifting idea in the United States. However, we need to maintain the basic ideas preserved into our founding documents as concepts evolve in the complexity of Liberty including, privacy rights in the fairly new digital age among others. Understanding the history of Liberty and the ongoing debates is essential to comprehending the American identity.