Not really anti-USA?

From time to time I find myself in the middle of a conversation regarding the state of our little global village, whether specific issues in specific locations or overall trends. Based on the responses I occasionally get to the things I say and the opinions I share I realise that people regard me as being anti-USA, so I thought I should clarify a few things.

While I’m not going to look at it at length there is a well-known line from the USA’s Declaration of Independence that reads as follows: “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”. As with any idea or belief someone, somewhere will try and find problems with this statement but there is something striking about this idea of equality among men at that time in history – or at any time I guess. After all, it flies in the face of so much of the outworking of human ambition. Along with other ideals on which the republic was founded I find this to be something essential and undeniable, although it is in the sporadic and limited applications of these beliefs that my concerns are based.

When “all men” becomes all white men or all American men then I have a problem. When the “unalienable rights” are perceived in such a way or extend so far that the pursuit thereof infringes on the rights of others then something is wrong. When someone’s life is more important or valuable than that of another based on where they are from, then someone has gone off-track. Or, when someone’s pursuit of happiness results in someone else’s unhappiness then we have to question the process and the legitimacy of that happiness. There is a strong-foundation at the base of the USA but I, like many others, believe that some of the builders have not stuck to the original blueprint.