“…They are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

I didn’t want to let Independence Day pass without waxing romantic about the country the has been kind enough to provide the ecology in which I’ve thrived, and the document that started it all. The Declaration of Independence, for the most part, offers a litany of grievances against King George III. But its cornerstone, the passage that begins this post, set the tone for the kind of country the United States was to become.

It’s that passage, and the interplay between its elements that I want to explore here.

I agree with a recent column in the Economist that the pursuit of happiness provides one of the stronger currents of American thought. The sarcastic remark, “Sure, it’s a free country,” in reflexive response to questions like “Mind if I _____?” exemplifies the ethos. Even if it acts as a baseline frame for out lives, circumstances arise when either life or liberty trump our happy pursuits.

The pursuit of happiness, for example, cannot be abused to justify a life of crime. Liberty trumps happiness when it comes to stealing. My pursuit of happiness cannot needlessly hinder your freedom (i.e. liberty) to chase the same goal.

A complex interplay between these competing ethics expresses itself in other ways. Liberty provides the ground for a life well lived pursuing happiness. The freedom to pursue our goals and dreams acts as a raison d’etre. Lives can be sacrificed to uphold liberty.

Life. Liberty. Happiness. It’s the tension and dynamic between these lofty ideals that makes America so robust. America isn’t perfect