Things need to change in our country. We say that we're the "greatest country on earth," but the fact remains that huge chunks of our population are lacking in basic human rights, a problem that definitely needs to be fixed. Debate all you want, but we do need something to change.
A common argument held among conservatives in the American government seems to be “what would the Founding Fathers think of (insert argument here)?” Well, first and foremost, the truest answer can be found in the hit musical Hamilton: “Uh, do whatever you want; I’m super dead!” Also, it’s not like the men could get along anyway. Off the top of my head I can tell you that Alexander Hamilton didn’t like Thomas Jefferson, that Thomas Jefferson and John Adams had a falling out, that Alexander Hamilton didn’t like John Adams, that everyone hated Alexander Hamilton, that Washington wasn’t hugely fond of most of his cabinet…you can see where modern-day political tensions came from. And none of the Founding Fathers were the all-but-gods people nowadays make them out to be. Many of them owned slaves, many of them were hypocrites, and if you’re unsure as to why everyone hated Hamilton—there’s an entire musical full of reasons. The long and short of it is that the Founding Fathers aren’t necessarily the best men to look up to in matters of politics, especially given that we are living well over 200 years after they sat down to write our Constitution. But in case that answer doesn’t satisfy, let us look at words written by one of the men themselves:
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“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.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”
In case you weren’t sure, that was an excerpt from the Declaration of Independence, written by our third president, Thomas Jefferson. If your school was anything like mine, you probably had several years of American history, so I’m going to take it that you already knew that Thomas Jefferson was the author of the Declaration (the man who wrote a document on independence was also a slaveholder, so that feeds into the hypocrisy of the Founding Fathers, but that’s a topic for another day.) You should also know that this document isn't just a historic piece of paper--it still holds relevance for us today.
Let’s start at the beginning of the above quote. “All men are created equal.” Except, in the eyes of many, if not all, of the Founding Fathers...they weren’t. Men here meant white landowners. Women—sorry, you’ve got no rights. Black people—you’re not even a whole damn person (Three-Fifths Compromise from the Constitution, anyone?). So clearly some things have changed since this was written. However, this isn’t quite the point I’m getting at. Let’s continue.
“That among these are Life…” I’m sure that many people will look at this line and say “But we have these rights! If I get murdered, my murderer will go on trial” and so on. But this fact changes if one is gay, or black, or transgender. The statistics for minorities is alarming, and, for the most part, nothing is being done to address this. Lawmakers are becoming complacent in their own privilege, believing that because they have rights, so does everyone else. We shouldn't need movements like Black Lives Matter--these people are humans same as anyone else, so of course their lives matter! But the fact remains that we do need it, that we've regressed because people would much rather sit in their comfortable seats of privilege than leave their comfort zones to challenge things like police brutality and senseless violence. We've sunk ourselves into a mixture of fear and the feeling that if something doesn't apply to us personally, someone else can deal with it, and we aren't about to leave.
"...Liberty..." Liberty has always been a tricky one. Google defines liberty as "the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views." Well. We haven't exactly all had that throughout history now, have we? After all, we had slavery, and then we had segregation. I'm pretty sure that those qualify as "oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life [or] behavior." What, we don't have segregation anymore? Perhaps, but we do have other issues, such as trying to tell transgender people that they can't use the correct bathrooms--that they have to use the one that matches the gender listed on their birth certificate, regardless of their actual gender. People get all riled up about how that means that "we're letting men into the women's restroom." No, I still don't want any men in the women's restroom--trans women are women, not men, just as trans men are men.
"...and the pursuit of Happiness." Yeah, go ahead and pursue your happiness all you want. But if you're trying to get married to someone of the same gender as you, prepare for people to protest your happiness. After all, the only people who deserve their rights are the exact same people who deserved their rights back when Jefferson wrote the Declaration. Our country totally hasn't changed at all since or anything ridiculous like that.
“Deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” Once again, something that works in theory. After all, we do elect our leaders. But here are the facts: in the 2012 presidential election, only 54.87% of the voting age population turned out to vote. In the 2014 midterm elections, only 36.4% of the voting-eligible population voted, the lowest turnout in seventy years. These numbers hardly constitute the entirety of the "governed;" rather, they're only half, or less.
"Whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it." When our government now longer upholds our rights--the rights of every single citizen of the United States of America--it is our right, it is our duty to make a difference, to change or replace the government.
"Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes." This is important to remember, but it is also important to note that our cause has passed far beyond "light and transient."
"But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security." Boom.
This article doesn't even come close to touching on all the issues in our society. There are massive class divides and issues, the fact that most of the wealth is held by hardly any of the people, immigration issues, healthcare issues...the list goes on. The long and short of it is that this country absolutely needs a revolution.
