Tag Archives: persuit of happiness
Happiness
I believe that everyone should have the right to pursue happiness. But what do I really mean by Happiness? The obvious answer is that happiness is whatever makes one feel good. Most of us spend some if not much time finding things that we hope will bring happy into our stress dominated and often unhappy lives. We shop online or at shopping centers or go on vacations or party it up to bring us some sort of happiness. Most of these activities bring only brief periods of happiness. However when I do something good to help another, especially a strangers, I find that the feeling of accomplishment and happiness last far longer. Why is this so? We are a social animal. We are genetically programed to work cooperative together as a social community. True Happiness lies in that social essence we have lost site of through civilization so long ago. Continue reading
Returning to the Essence: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness
It is unfortunate that so much about our government and legislation is about promoting self-interests. I think the founding fathers intended this nation to be based upon common interests instead of self-interests but this goes contrary to our current self-centric nature which has corrupted our interpretation of the Bill of Rights. Prime examples of such interpretive corruptions are two Supreme Court rulings in the case of Citizens United vs. FEC that ruled that corporations could make contributions to political campaigns similar to ordinary citizens and McCutcheon v. FEC that recently ruled that a single donor can give up to $3.6 million in one election cycle. These two rulings have in essence empowered very rich corporations and individuals to make enormous political contributions to influence election outcomes. I am convinced that this nation was founded on the principle of fair rights and treatment for the vast majority of citizens not primarily the nobility and royalty of the rich. Continue reading
Happiness in Happy Societies
We are all familiar with this famous phase from the American Declaration of independence: “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 … Continue reading
Is it Constitutional to Legislate Morality?
A case is made from history and the Declaration of Independence that it was the wish of our Founding Fathers to keep the church separated from the state. It is even suggested that Christian doctrine supports the argument that morality should not be forced upon people. In a society where everyone’s right to free expression is guaranteed, religious morality cannot be forced upon others with different backgrounds through legislation. Continue reading
ouR Social Conscience 