Two senators had an exchange on the Declaration of Independence regarding the rights of Americans this week. One Senator said, “The notion that rights don’t come from laws and don’t come from the government, but come from the Creator… That’s what the Iranian government believes. So the statement that our rights do not come from our laws or our governments is extremely troubling.”
What the Declaration Of Independence Says About Our Rights
Now, why would declaring our rights come from God and not from the government be troubling to some Americans (whom we elected to run our country)? I’ve been challenged on this point here at Common Sense Civics and Citizenship. Let’s review what the Declaration of Independence says on this point and why it is said in this way.
“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.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…”
Why the Declaration of Independence Says It
Our Founders did NOT want the British Government 2.0, where your rights come from a king, a human like yourself with flaws and failures. After much study, they declared that we are born with rights that come from our Creator. These rights are unalienable, that is, since they come from the Creator God, neither human laws nor leaders have the right to take them away. In fact, our Founders established a country where our government’s primary job is to SECURE our rights, not dictate them to us. In fact, our Founders stated in the Declaration that our leaders get their power by our consent, that is, those whom our leaders govern. They answer to the Creator for how they treat the governed.
Is the Declaration of Independence Relevant Today?
Today, we have entire factions trying to erase this truth documented in the Declaration of Independence because “other nations don’t govern this way.” Their leaders are “Supreme” leaders. Our Founders and Americans today do not accept our leaders as “supreme.” That title is attributed to the Creator.
Either the Creator is God or the Government is God. If the Government is your God, it can make or take away your rights according to its desires. If the Creator is God, leaders must give an account for how they respect and defend our unalienable rights that we are born with, not as favors bestowed by fallible human beings.
What If You Don’t Believe in the Declaration’s Premise?
The American government does not force its people to believe in God. Just because many don’t believe in God, that doesn’t mean we should hand over our rights to fellow human beings. The fact is, our country was founded and our government formed about this very principle- that our rights are endowed to us by our Creator. Any other government is, well, like the Iranian government. I don’t see many Americans rushing to live in Iran these days. Do you?
This is Common Sense Civics and Citizenship. 🇺🇸
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