{"id":712,"date":"2001-11-21T09:37:49","date_gmt":"2001-11-21T14:37:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/?p=712"},"modified":"2001-11-21T09:37:49","modified_gmt":"2001-11-21T14:37:49","slug":"the_pursuit_of","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2001\/11\/21\/the_pursuit_of.html","title":{"rendered":"The Pursuit of Happiness"},"content":{"rendered":"

“The Pursuit of Happiness<\/a>“<\/b><\/p>\n

Four little words that Andrew Sullivan says have made the US unique — and a target for those seeking other goals.<\/p>\n

There are, of course, many reasons why America evokes hostility across the globe. There are foreign policies; there are historical failings. There is resentment of American wealth and power. There is fear of the social dislocation inherent in globalization. But there is also something far deeper. What we have forgotten is how anomalous America is in the history of the world. Most other countries have acquired identity and culture through ancient inheritance, tribal loyalty, or religious homogeneity. Even a country very like the United States, Britain, still has a monarchy and an established church. If you told the average Brit that his government was designed to help him pursue “happiness,” he’d laugh. Other developed countries, like Germany, have succumbed to the notion of race as a purifying and unifying element. Many others, like Pakistan or India, cling to a common religious identity to generate a modicum of political unity. In none of these countries is “happiness” even a political concept. And in none of these places is the pursuit of something in and of itself an admirable goal, let alone at the center of the meaning of the state and Constitution.<\/p>\n

While Sullivan sometimes oversimplifies, his message is a powerful one worth reading. Indeed, if you haven’t been to his site, it’s worth a visit.<\/p>\n

(Via Matt Welch<\/a>)<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“The Pursuit of Happiness” Four little words that Andrew Sullivan says have made the US unique — and a target for those seeking other goals. There are, of course, many…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-geopolitical-brouhaha"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8341,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2005\/12\/09\/getting_more_th.html","url_meta":{"origin":712,"position":0},"title":"Getting more than a tad embarrassing","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 9-Dec-05 8:31am","format":false,"excerpt":"For a \"land of the free\" and a place based on the idea of inalienable rights to \"life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,\" it's getting to be both embarrassing...","rel":"","context":"In "LGBTQ &c"","block_context":{"text":"LGBTQ &c","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/gay-stuff"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5886,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/07\/04\/when_in_the_cou.html","url_meta":{"origin":712,"position":1},"title":"When in the course of human events …","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 4-Jul-04 2:32pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Happy Independence Day 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...","rel":"","context":"In "Politics & Law"","block_context":{"text":"Politics & Law","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17752,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2010\/07\/04\/declaration.html","url_meta":{"origin":712,"position":2},"title":"Declaration","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 4-Jul-10 11:53am","format":false,"excerpt":"[...] 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. 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