Butler (Re: cop shows, postmodernism and all that

Carl Remick cremick at rlmnet.com
Mon Feb 22 10:21:40 PST 1999


Re Carrol's : "With all due respect to the agitational possibilities of the Declaration of Independence (Ho made excellent use of it), I think Catherine is kinder to it than she need be. The key point in understanding the Declaration is the recognition that 'happiness' was a euphemism for 'property,' and the inalienable rights that were up front in the minds of the drafters were the inalienable rights of the property owner to his life, his liberty, and the untrammeled use of his property for his own happiness (i.e., for the exploitation of labor)."

Carrol, this is a needlessly restrictive interpretation of what the DOI states. My point all along has been that we can and should interpret "all people are created equal" and "the pursuit of happiness" in contemporary progressive terms. Why be limited by euphemistic readings of two centuries ago?

Carl Remick



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