

#LIFE LIBERTY AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS FREE#
For you to be without the right to Liberty is to deny the truth that you are free to live your life that you are free to choose that you are free to feel what you feel. Your right to Liberty is your right to choose what you consent to and what you withhold your consent from. The right to Liberty is the right to be who you are, the right to become who you choose to become, the right to think what you choose to think, and the right to feel what you choose to feel.

Liberty is the state of being free of unnecessary restrictions being free to make your own choices being free to experience your own life. For you to be without the right to Life is to deny the truth that you are alive that you are a part of Life that your life matters. The right to Life is the right to be conceived, the right to grow, the right to diminish, and the right to die. The right to Life is the right to be alive the right to live the right to flourish. Living beings are alive because we change our forms, through conception, growth, diminishment, and death. Life is a process which creates itself, resulting in an unending flowering of forms. But, what is the right to Life? What does the right to Liberty really mean? What is the pursuit of Happiness? What is it about these words that have inspired so many people for so long? For over two centuries, the notion that Americans “… are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” has been a source of inspiration for millions of people. Of happiness in the twenty-first century.Much has been written about the preamble to the American Declaration of Independence. These questions, and more, will be explored as we consider life, liberty and the pursuit


The world? Is access to healthcare an unalienable right? Practices democracy the best way, or can we learn lessons from other democracies around The United States seek to export democracy to foreign nations? Is the way America Influence our understanding of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? Should Liberty, and of other rights we enjoy? What are the causes of political and socialĪpathy? How have partisan politics impacted the conduct of our government? To whatĮxtent does government promote, or impede, economic equality? How does technology Majority rule with individual rights? What are the limits of free speech, of religious What are the costs and benefits of the freedom our democracy affords? How do we balance Or are they best understood as positive rights, as bestowed upon us by government? Ever changing demographics,Ĭultural mores, values, technologies, and understanding raise important questionsįor our nation… Are our rights endowments from the Creator, as the founders believed? The founding fathers crafted plans for the foundling republic. Missouri State University’s public affairs theme for the 2016-17 academic year, Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness: Perspectives on Self-Government, is rich with opportunities to engage the campus community in discussions exploringīoth our rights and our responsibilities as citizens in a modern democracy.Īmerican society in the twenty-first century has little in common with the era when Of Americans, its meaning today is contested. The meaning of this self-evident truth may have been well understood by earlier generations These words from the Declaration of Independence are familiar and oft quoted. Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that theyĪre endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are
