Upon the principles enshrined in this sentence, the Republic rises or falls. The founders knew that the concepts threading their way through it were all connected. Pull one out, and the rest unravels. It should perhaps not surprise anyone that every single thread is being yanked out, torn, ripped and cut. So it is; so, perhaps, it was from the beginning.
It is no longer self-evident that all men are created equal.
Since they are not created, they cannot be endowed by a Creator with any unalienable Rights.
If our rights do not come from God, then they must be imparted by society and the State. And what the State giveth, the State can taketh. And since we are not equal under the sight of God, the State can take into account our differences and make changes, as they see fit.
There are no unalienable rights, so there cannot be an unalienable right to life.
Being alive, obviously, is a prerequisite for having liberty and being able to pursue happiness, or anything else for that matter. If Life is not defended, if it is not seen as an unalienable right, but rather something permitted only insofar as the State is prepared to allow it, the other ‘rights’ necessarily are to be regarded in the same way.
There are no unalienable rights, so there cannot be a right to liberty.
Life and liberty go hand in hand. If one does not have the liberty even to be allowed to live, then one does not have the liberty to live that life how you please. What you eat, where you live, where you work, whether you can have children–how many, and how often–everything and all things fall under the purview of the State. The individual must give way to the State, because the individual fades away, but the State goes on forever.
There are no unalienable rights, so there cannot be a right to pursue happiness.
But there is no God. There are no unalienable rights. We are not made equal–we are not made, nor are we equal. We, as society, decide what counts as ‘rights.’ We can, and have, changed our mind. If we waver on trivialities, it can be endured, but upon the question of where our rights come from hinges everything: will it be freedom or will it be tyranny?
Or, we are made by God, special and unique. Our lives have value. We were made for happiness, not serfdom.
At the intersections of every issue of concern today is this great question: are our lives gifts from God or the results of blind chance to be administered by the elite who manage our species?
Because of the foundational nature of life–without it, everything else is moot–PIRC is committed most of all to making a defense of life its priority. However, it understands that everything is connected. Everything is in play… at the intersections.