The Sunshine Report Endowed by Our Creator - Enshrined in Our Constitution Jay shares thoughts on our ‘inalienable, God-given rights’ while standing in front of the NH State Archives in Concord, location of the NH Constitution. As Americans, we are uniquely blessed. We are born with our rights. Our rights are not granted to us by the State. In fact, it is we the people who are the sovereign, and it is we who grant certain enumerated powers to the State. In establishing this hierarchy, our founders set forth on a journey never before undertaken by mankind. They created a nation, as Lincoln famously stated in the Gettysburg Address, a “government of the people, by the people and for the people.” In fact, this principle is clearly articulated in our founding documents. It’s one of the most important sentences in American history. In a global context, it’s arguably one of the most important sentences in human history: the first sentence of the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence. Penned by Thomas Jefferson, we’re mostly all familiar with the phrase included in the declaration that states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal”, famously quoted by the great Dr. Martin Luther King in his ‘I Have a Dream Speech’ on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in August of 1963 during the Civil Rights movement. As the sentence continues, there’s a lesser quoted, yet equally powerful series of words Jefferson composed. These words would go on to declare that the rights stated within the Declaration, the ‘right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,’ are not simply guaranteed by the State, but are instead guaranteed by our mere existence as individuals. “All men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable Rights.” To this day it remains a profound proclamation. But let us go back a little bit, to the origins of how it came to be that Jefferson believed so deeply in this idea that it was included in our nation's founding documents. The idea originated with the political philosopher John Locke, who in 1690 wrote his “Second Treatise of Government”. In it, he proposed the idea that we as human beings, by nature, are free, equal, and independent and cannot be, “subjected to the political power of another, without his own consent.” These words would go on to be the basis for the First Amendment of our Bill of Rights. While the American colonies lived under the shadow of tyrannical British rule, Jefferson, and the other founders, who were great admirers of thinkers like Locke and Rousseau, were adamant that these “inalienable rights” are intrinsic to each individual, therefore it must be declared by law that it is not government who is their grantor and guarantor. By declaring this, the government cannot therefore infringe on those rights. We see an example of this in the First Amendment when it starts out by stating, “Congress shall make no law”. There’s probably been a point in time when each of us has in some way or another said that our right to the freedom of speech is our Constitutional right. What’s important to understand though is that in fact it’s not our Constitutional right, it's our “God-given” right as a human being. These inalienable rights that we speak of cannot be infringed upon by anyone, and therefore we should be allowed to pursue them. This applies to each of us in our daily lives as we interact with the world. How we dress, how we speak, how we write, our freedom to choose our own life’s trajectory is not something given to us by government, but inherent to our being. And for each of us fortunate to live here in the United States, liberty survives only if we choose to recognize, protect, and enjoy this principle, each and every day. Read The Report Nackey Loeb School – Celebrating Our Freedom of Speech Read More The Role of NH in Creating our ‘Bill of Rights’   Read More Positive Profile of the Week: Alan Dershowitz This week we are delighted to profile a nationally recognized defender of our First Amendment rights, Attorney and Professor Alan Dershowitz. Alan Dershowitz is perhaps one of the most interesting attorneys of our time. Dershowitz grew up in Brooklyn, NY and graduated from Yale Law School. And for decades, he was arguably the most accomplished and most prominent professors at Harvard Law School. In fact, as a law student, I had the privilege of spending a full semester in one of his classes with approximately twenty-five other students and getting to know his philosophy. As a lawyer, Dershowitz is best known for his ardent defense of civil liberties. In this, he has been enormously successful. He has taken on some of the most high-profile clients in the country and won cases and appeals that no one thought had a chance of success. Importantly, often, he takes cases and positions that are the very antithesis of his personal belief system. He has always believed in the Bill of Rights and will defend anyone (yes, ANYONE) whose rights are being infringed – no matter their political beliefs or ideology. For example, Dershowitz has been a major player in Democratic politics, actively campaigning against Donald Trump and for Hillary Clinton in 2016. Four years later, however, he would help lead President Trump’s defense in his first impeachment hearing. That’s how serious he takes the idea that everyone deserves a defense consistent with the protection of Constitutional principles. For instance, he is also an ardent supporter of gun control and advocates repeal of the 2nd Amendment, but he actively opposes attempts by judges to “read the Second Amendment out of the Constitution”. He acknowledges it’s an individual right and says it either needs to be repealed (his preference) or vigorously defended as is. While Alan Dershowitz is a self-proclaimed loudmouth who makes his opinions known, he consistently stands up to protect Constitutionally guaranteed rights and civil liberties. Whether you agree or disagree with his political positions, you cannot help but admire his devotion to the Constitution and protecting our ‘God-given’ rights. Thank you, Professor Dershowitz. Quotes of the Week “I am an American; free born and free bred, where I acknowledge no man as my superior, except for his own worth, or as my inferior, except for his own demerit.” Theodore Roosevelt     Jay Lucas | www.JayLucas.us  Share This Email Share This Email Share This Email Jay Lucas | 7 Portwalk Pl, Portsmouth, NH 03801 Unsubscribe [email protected] Update Profile | Constant Contact Data Notice Sent by [email protected]