IS THIS WHAT THE FOUNDERS INTENDED?

 BY STEVE DUNN

"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

I often wonder what our Founding Fathers - Messers. Jefferson, Hancock, Adams, etc. -- would think about the nation they helped to create on that hot July day in Philadelphia.

How would they respond to the moral confusion created by the pursuit of human happiness at the cost of breaking down the social contract of common decency in our dealings?

How would they react to the trumping of right to life with something called reproductive rights?

What would they think of the right to bear arms in the light of repeated school shootings?  Would they think of this as true liberty?

How would a body that invoked their Creator as legitimizer of their efforts deal with the government's attempts to chase religion from the public square?

I am no sage (nor do I presume to read the minds of the Founders) but on this Independence Day 2014 find me asking:

Are all things conceived in the human mind good?  Can every desire be tolerated even it leaves a nation without a moral compass by which to engage in human community?

If life is so precious, why are we excluding life in the womb from its roster, simply because not every person wants to take responsibility for the outcome of their sexuality?

Do we really think that a document whose writers knew only of muskets and cannons, whose wars themselves rarely result in collateral damage; intend every person with the wherewithal to do so to possess automatic weapons and "copkiller" ammunition?

G.K. Chesterton once spoke of the "terrible gift of freedom," by which he intended us to see the awesome responsibility that went with receiving the gift.

I do not believe freedom should ever be defined as "license" nor can it be divorced from responsibility to others and accountability to the larger community.

Personally, I don't believe our Founding Fathers believed that either.