Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness aren't possible in poverty
Life isn't possible without proper health care.
Liberty isn't possible without education.
The pursuit of happiness isn't possible when one must kill themselves working and still not have subsistence.
Liberty isn't possible when you don't have human rights because of your innate characteristics (race, disability, gender, orientation, ethnicity, etc.)
Most of us here know this, and I know I'm mostly preaching to the choir.
America has many lessons from its history to teach the world about freedom. But America is being left behind in an expanding definition of freedom and liberty --the basic idea of human dignity.
I think many other nations are leaving us in the dust on the idea of human dignity.
It is not just the safety net and basics that dozens of nations provide beyond our own. It's the basic societal recognition of what each person should have, or more importantly, what they should not lack, no matter who they are.
Sadly, we are distinguished more and more by what greater numbers of our citizens lack.
Sadly, we are distinguished more and more by the size of our military.
Sadly, we are distinguished more and more by our fear of the world.
Sadly, we are distinguished more and more by our fear of each other.
I am an incurable optimist, but to be honest, it's getting harder to pull that off.
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