Comments on: The Meaning of The Pursuit Of Happiness http://catholibertarian.com/2011/11/23/the-meaning-of-the-pursuit-of-happiness/ Showing How Both Catholic and Libertarian Beliefs are Compatible Sun, 19 May 2013 01:30:47 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: elizabethre http://catholibertarian.com/2011/11/23/the-meaning-of-the-pursuit-of-happiness/#comment-1288 Mon, 28 Nov 2011 21:01:33 +0000 http://catholibertarian.com/?p=602#comment-1288 I’m not a political person so I’m totally lost as to who the Progressives are and what they are about so I can’t comment on your paragraphs pertaining to them. But I totally agree with your first three paragraphs.

]]> By: Teresa Rice http://catholibertarian.com/2011/11/23/the-meaning-of-the-pursuit-of-happiness/#comment-1227 Fri, 25 Nov 2011 19:58:48 +0000 http://catholibertarian.com/?p=602#comment-1227 The problem is progressives devalue what should be valued the most. In addition most progressives don’t believe in God or morality in absolute terms.

]]> By: Teresa Rice http://catholibertarian.com/2011/11/23/the-meaning-of-the-pursuit-of-happiness/#comment-1226 Fri, 25 Nov 2011 19:55:49 +0000 http://catholibertarian.com/?p=602#comment-1226 Exactly blogsense-by-barb. Thank you.

]]> By: silverfiddle http://catholibertarian.com/2011/11/23/the-meaning-of-the-pursuit-of-happiness/#comment-1214 Thu, 24 Nov 2011 23:52:34 +0000 http://catholibertarian.com/?p=602#comment-1214 I also agree with blogsense-by-barb. Liberty and enforced equality are incompatible. Hayek makes this case quite convincingly in The Constitution of Liberty.

]]> By: silverfiddle http://catholibertarian.com/2011/11/23/the-meaning-of-the-pursuit-of-happiness/#comment-1213 Thu, 24 Nov 2011 23:49:05 +0000 http://catholibertarian.com/?p=602#comment-1213 Most progressives I engage with deny natural rights, because it flies in the face of their agenda.

The problem with progressivism is that they try to collectivize everything, including happiness, with people like Cass Sunstein nudging us into accepting their version of it.

What the founders mean was each person can pursue whatever makes him or her happy so long as he or she does not interfere with the rights of others.

I agree with Teresa. Progressives are not satisfied with government setting the rules and being the referee. They want government intimately involved in everyone’s lives, and that was never the intention of the founders.

]]> By: Kevin Rice http://catholibertarian.com/2011/11/23/the-meaning-of-the-pursuit-of-happiness/#comment-1206 Thu, 24 Nov 2011 18:14:26 +0000 http://catholibertarian.com/?p=602#comment-1206 Another way of reading Teresa’s post would be in light of the document that she is obviously citing with the assumption that she read the clause you are using to portray her as “at odds with” it. In that event the government’s role in protecting the right to men to pursue happiness individually would not rightly be considered “assistance” the way she is using that word. At that point, it is just a terminological quibble, with you insisting on calling the government’s role in securing your fundamental rights a way of “assisting” you in your exercise of them, and Teresa simply saying “that’s not what I meant to deny by the word “assistance”.

]]> By: Kyle http://catholibertarian.com/2011/11/23/the-meaning-of-the-pursuit-of-happiness/#comment-1195 Wed, 23 Nov 2011 23:31:52 +0000 http://catholibertarian.com/?p=602#comment-1195 You’re correct that no government can guarantee happiness–for the record: I’ve never met a progressive who argued that it could–but your position that people should pursue happiness “without assistance from the State” puts you at odds with the Declaration of Independence, which says that governments are instituted to secure the right, among others, to pursue happiness. The State “assists” me in my pursuit of happiness by securing my right to pursue happiness. According to the Declaration, the State should come to my aid if my right to pursue happiness is infringed.

]]> By: blogsense-by-barb http://catholibertarian.com/2011/11/23/the-meaning-of-the-pursuit-of-happiness/#comment-1193 Wed, 23 Nov 2011 23:22:56 +0000 http://catholibertarian.com/?p=602#comment-1193 Well said! It seems to boil down in my mind to a choice between individual, personal freedom (freedom to choose) and the sacrifice of those freedoms in the hope that Big Government can take better care of me than I can. We cannot have BOTH Freedom and Big Government. We either make choices or the government makes them for us. I’d rather trust myself, thanks! :)

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