" Rights, Where Do They Come From?"

" 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 among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

These words are the second line of the Declaration of Independence. I'm sure most Americans have heard these words hundreds of times, yet how many times have we taken the time to really examine them?

"We hold these truths to be self-evident"; we don't need any further validation, these truths stand on their own merit, no man can question them!

"that ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL", the word created is the key word in this phrase; it validates the belief that the composers of this document believed in the sovereignty of God as the ultimate granter and guarantor of our rights.

"that they are endowed by their CREATOR with certain unalienable rights", Creator again is used to show the reverence the writer has for one who is larger then himself, that man has possession of rights not granted by man, but given by God and these rights are irrevocable.

"among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness", when the word among was used it was a qualifier, suggesting that their are other rights given by God that have not been presented in this document yet they still exist.

There are people in our society today that believe our rights are something granted to us by government mandate; something that man has granted man. If one believes this then all rights can be revoked by man. When government replaces God nothing is guaranteed, anything can be legislated away by the acts of other men.

Thomas Jefferson knew too much power would corrupt any man and that is why he defined our rights as things given by God, not gifts from government. I feel our current leadership has begun a process of usurping what Jefferson has defined as rights that were "God given". Choice is quickly becoming governmental choice, life and liberty, are now being redefined by Congress. Where this will lead is up to the American voter. If we yield rights given by our Creator to the government we will lose the America that Jefferson laid at the foot of every citizen!