The Real Meaning of

In his second inaugural address , President Obama said, “What makes us exceptional, what makes us America is our allegiance to an idea articulated in a declaration made more than two centuries ago.

‘ 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, and [sic] among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.’”

So far, so good: these words of President Obama’s, which remind us of the words on which our country was founded, are good words. But the purpose of words is to convey meaning, and the purpose of the words he quoted is to affirm meaningful principles. If we want to be faithful to the words of the Declaration, we must honor their meaning—and to do that, we must remember their meaning.

But other words in the president’s address suggest he does not understand what the Declaration of Independence really means.

The Declaration of Independence stands for the right of individuals to live their own lives and pursue their own happiness. To government, it assigns a specific role: “to secure these rights.” And it calls for unity only for a single purpose: to make sure we have a government that will secure everyone’s individual rights. For that is the only “this” we are all in together: if the government has contempt for anyone’s rights, we cannot be confident that it will respect ours.

But President Obama called on us to come together as a nation for a broader range of purposes, such as technological innovation, road-building, elder care, and science education, in which he wants to enlist the nation.

Some, perhaps all, of those are good values to pursue. (Far be it from me to speak ill of technological advancement !) But when a president chooses the projects of a nation, he supersedes and suppresses the projects of the individual citizens of that nation. Then instead of identifying and pursuing their own ambitions, young people are driven to the careers in which the president wants them to serve; instead of pursuing their own happiness, they become servants of an alleged “greater good.”

Under this view of government, throughout our lives, we are all asked—or forced—to subordinate the pursuit of our own goals to a national agenda and a “greater good” chosen by some combination of public and elite decision-making no one of us can control. But there is no greater good than the good of individuals, the good that is sacrificed by all such national planning.

The president said a society built to his specifications would ensure that every American’s “effort and determination” would be rewarded—and this would give “real meaning to our creed.” But the Declaration already has a real meaning, and it is not that we must unify behind the president’s goals and be rewarded for contributing to them. It is that we have the right to live our own lives, make our own judgments, and pursue our own happiness—and that the president’s job is not to impose his goals, but to make sure each of us is free to pursue ours.

For further reading:

• The Radical But Conservative Declaration of Independence , by Alexander R. Cohen
• The Declaration and a Revolution Today , by Edward L. Hudgins
• Yes, Mr. President, Ayn Rand Is for Teens—and Everyone Else , by Alexander R. Cohen
• Completing the American Revolution , by David N. Mayer

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