Foundational principles

The point of my next few posts is to put to rest a conversation I have had several times. I am not very pleased with my homeland, the United States, and would like to lay out my case. These are my foundational principles

I love my country with all my heart. My family built her, bled for her, have been a part of her since before her founding-- my US ancestory goes back to the 1600s, on both sides. We signed the Constitution, fought for her independence, ..


America is special because it is a country founded on the principles of the enlightenment. It is these principles which make her special. To reduce it to on sentence, this is the claim 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 (or property, depending on the version).

That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.