Today we remember and we celebrate July 4, 1776:You might be interested in that post, but here I want to emphasize the view of government I think is expressed in our Declaration of Independence. It is a view I hold.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, that amoung these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness--That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed . . . . .
The view of government I find as the framework for the Declaration of Independence is of a government that does not come before the rights of individuals, but rather, is a government that is formed out of the rights of individuals. On this view, government does not grant rights and privileges to individuals, rather, individuals grant to government certain powers (eventually expressly enumerated by Article 1, Section 8 of our constitution) over their individual rights and liberties.
Where do the individual rights come from? Well, some might say individuals have natural rights as individuals. This view seems to be expressed in the Declaration of Independence, but, I think we can note here that there is something more. Thomas Jefferson wrote in this Declaration, and another 55 people agreed by signing this Declaration, that the rights of each individual are thought to be endowned by their Creator. On this view, it seems to me, God has given us liberty (I like to think of this in terms of the scripture in Genesis about God giving us dominion), God has left each of us to choose for ourselves. Many would choose to use their liberty to act in ways that harmed others. Thus, understanding this, the Declaration of Independence notes that we (individually) choose to join together to form a government the purpose of which will be to SECURE our individual "unalienable rights" given to us by God.
I would also note just how great is the reliance on God throughout the Declaration of Independence. I espeically make note that the Declaration's final sentence seems to include a bit of prayer that those 56 people who signed the Declaration were relying on the "Protection of divine Providence," and that they were pledging, not just their honor to each other, but they were pledging their sacred honor to each other.
Of course, I do not see in all this an interest in a theocratic form of government. Government is inherently coercive, and in my view coercion and faith (or religion) do not fit together. We form our government for the purpose of securing our God given "unalienable rights" as individuals against the ways in which others might use their individual liberty to harm or to take from us. We do not form our government to coerce others to follow our God, or to follow the ethics and morals we learn from the teachings of Jesus. We do not form our government to force others to do what is right. God leaves us to our own choices, and as I think the Declaration of Independence suggests, our government should be formed in a way that largely leaves us to our own individual choices as well.
