Wisdom of a Vision from 250 Years Ago

Equal Rights and Justice for All

Reflections on Promoting General Welfare vs Personal Advantage​​

A recent Pew survey found that nearly 70% of Americans are dissatisfied with the direction of their country. Gallup says only about half of Americans are “extremely proud” or “very proud” to be American, a 25-year low. A recent NPR/Marist poll released on July 1, 2026 found that eight of ten of Americans say the U.S. has moved from founding principles. In our view, these viewpoints are partially a reflection of the divisiveness, tribalism, greed, personal privilege, and self-interested behaviors increasingly exhibited in many aspects of our public and private institutions today.

So, perhaps it is time to reflect on the timeless wisdom of the founding fathers of the United States of America that was articulated over 250 years ago. The vision wasn't perfect; times were very different back then but we offer this aging wisdom as food for thought to reflect on some of these most basic and fundamental ideas that first united us as promoted in two of the country’s founding documents so long ago:

From the Preamble to the Declaration of Independence:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men [and women] 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.”

From the Preamble of the Constitution of the United States:

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

One idea that is obvious from both of these preambles is that there was no mention of special privileges for extremely wealthy individuals, the rights of public or private institutions (including businesses), only fundamental and common rights for all individuals in both of those preambles. In addition, we often wonder what the founding fathers would say about the goings on both within society and within institutions in the modern context of today’s issues with regard to equal justice, opportunity, general welfare, and protections for all.

Surely the are many wonderful things in living in America that our founding fathers could not have possibly foreseen, but have we lost our way from a part of their vision and, if so, how do we get back to it?  Buried in those preambles are some of of the things that still makes this country worth defending: the including the notion of majority rule, equal justice, equal opportunities, and equal rights for all regardless of majority or minority status.

We must also never forget that their vision includes the ability to "speak truth to power" including the freedom of an independent press in all its modern variations. All of these ideals are not considerations just when it’s convenient and certainly not when some official, a business or powerful private citizen is threatened (or criticized) but because these are unalienable rights and fundamental to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for every one of us.

Other possibilities for consideration in the modern era include incorporating some of the values and principles from the Earth Charter.  Another is ​to reconsider Designing the Future as described elsewhere on this website. Both of  these include modern realities that could not possible have been conceived by the founding fathers.