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If
you want to lead a nation, here are some things you must
understand and be able to explain, and by example, demonstrate
to your fellow citizens:
1.
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness... These
are God given rights that are to be bestowed on every person
who lives in this realm or in any other. No one is permitted to take
another person’s life and no one is permitted to deprive
another person of his or her liberty. Every person is
entitled to pursue their happiness as they define it for
themselves.
2.
There are, however, limitations to each person’s right to
life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. Each person has
a responsibility to not infringe on any other person’s
right to their life, liberty, or pursuit of happiness either
directly or indirectly.
3.
Sometimes it is not clear when one person’s right to pursue
their happiness must be limited in order to preserve the
rights and happiness of others.
4.
Sometimes the resolution of such conflicts can be difficult to
resolve. In such cases, the rule of law must be
invoked. The proper administration of the rule of law
requires that all persons be treated the same and without
regard to their position or station in life. That
means justice is to be pursued in all cases.
5.
Most of the time the resolution of conflicts can be
resolved using common sense inspired by a commitment to
intellectual integrity. This simply requires being
steadfastly honest about how
the maximum level of life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness can readily be preserved for everyone involved.
Here are a few examples:
a.
If you inadvertently make a mess in the process of pursuing your
happiness, you are responsible for cleaning up that mess.
Why? Because the messes people make usually impact other people in some
negative way,
either directly or indirectly. Sometimes cleaning up
the mess you created includes honorably compensating those
who have been hurt by your actions. If you can’t pursue your goals or dreams
without making a mess that negatively impacts others,
you should not pursue those goals or dreams until and unless
you’ve figured out how to do so without
making a mess or until you’ve gotten permission to proceed
from those who likely would be negatively impacted by what you intend
to do.
b.
If you have acquired some wealth, power, or position in
life, you
have no right to use your resources to influence other people to
lie, deceive, cheat, betray the public trust, or to otherwise undermine other
people's rights, or the rule of law, or the spirit of doing
what's right and honorable. Why?
Because doing so would be creating a mess. You have
the right to enjoy what you've honestly earned, but you have
no right to deprive others of their rights, or freedoms,
or equal treatment and justice under the law. c.
Sometimes a person's liberty, or the pursuit of their goals
or happiness needs
to be curtailed, such as when that person loses sight of
other people's rights and freedoms and causes hurt or
damage. But a person's rights and freedoms may only be
curtailed after a proper hearing, operating in accordance
with the best practices of jurisprudence, has come to such a
determination.
6.
For a general recitation of the basic rights and freedoms to
which all peoples are entitled, one should refer to the
principles enumerated in the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. Any person who would
ignore or fail to align him or herself with the principles
enumerated therein is not qualified to lead any nation or
any other organ of society. The same is true for any
person who does not understand that other people are
entitled to all the rights, freedoms, and consideration that
he or she would want for themselves or their posterity.
7.
The principles mentioned herein is not meant to be inclusive
of all the principles that a leader of people ought to
understand and express.
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