Tag: president of the united states

Self-Evident

“We hold these truths to be self-evident…”

Seven of the most famous words in American history, from The Declaration of Independence, written mostly by Thomas Jefferson in 1776. The original wording of “We hold these truths to be sacred and undeniable” was edited by Benjamin Franklin to rephrase it as “We hold these truths to be self-evident”.

What is the meaning of self-evident? I don’t have to ask Ben or Tom. Self-Evident is knowing for yourself what is true. Self-evident is using your own mind and reasoning. Self-evident is making your own evidence.

Prove to yourself what is right for you. The signers of the Declaration of Independence declared that what was right for their own selves. Life. Liberty. The pursuit of Happiness.

If you like those words, please keep living them. But if you don’t like those words, find some other words and keep living those. The French prefer Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity. Brazil promotes Order and Progress. India knows that Truth alone Triumphs.

America is not about preaching one way over the other, America is about accepting differing ideas and making sure that every individual is able to live freely. There are no borders to ideas. There are no walls that can keep humanity from living its chosen destiny. America is just as much an idea, a way of life, a perspective on the world, as it is a physical place.

What truths do you hold to be self-evident?

For me, I’ll stick with Life, Liberty, and Happiness.

-The Happy President, January 22, 2019

Freedom of Speech

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” Martin Luther King, Jr.

The ability to communicate with each other is the most valuable thing we have as a society – it is how we learn, grow, work together, build things, play games, and connect to something bigger than ourselves. Communicating is how we know what can keep us alive, so we don’t have to relive the same lessons over and over again. The ability to record ourselves is how humanity saves itself and the Earth. Communication is how we know we are not alone.

“What Hath God Wrought?” was the first message instantly communicated over long distance, which in 1844, was the 40 miles between Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, Maryland.  It sounded more like “dot dash dash, dot dot dot dot, dot dash, dash…” because it was sent on a telegram wire via Morse Code, but it made sense to the telegraph operator at the time.

The first human voice recorded was a Frenchwoman singing the folk song “Au Claire de la Lune” in 1860, but it wasn’t until Thomas Edison’s phonograph in 1877 that the world was able to record and playback sound regularly.

The first radio broadcast happened around 1900 to share weather reports, but radio wasn’t a regular communicating device to the masses for another 20 years, and then there was television, then the internet, and now we have cell phone apps.

The United States President has always had to communicate with the American public. George Washington toured the country on horseback and published in newspapers. Rutherford B. Hayes installed telephones to the White House. Franklin Delano Roosevelt embraced radio with his weekly Fireside Chats. John F. Kennedy looked good on camera. Bill Clinton established the first website for the White House. And of course, there’s today’s Presidential Twitter account.

With technology giving humanity the ability to record and share freely, why haven’t I been able to openly give and exchange my thoughts? I am a modern woman. I have a phone. I have a Twitter account. I have all the things necessary to become President, except the ability to communicate. To talk. To speak my mind. Share my opinion. Admit that maybe I am scared by what’s going on and I’m more scared of what will happen if things keep going the way they are.

So no more silence.

(a breath).

Now what do I speak? Sometimes it is easier to speak using someone else’s words first, so here are some quotes.

“Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”

That is from Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted in 1949. Way before Twitter. Before YouTube. Before the internet, and blu-rays, and dvds, and VHS tapes. Before CDs and cassette tapes and 8 Tracks.

I really like it. So here it is again.

“Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”

Blogs. Podcasts. A true expression of the freedom of speech.

It’s the First Amendment for a reason. These rights are given to the people by the people because it is so important for an individual to be able to freely express themselves, no matter what popular opinion dictates.

“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” George Orwell.

I’m someone who never wants to upset anyone. I want the whole world to be happy and fulfilled and merrily singing along to whatever tune they wish to march along with. Having an opinion seems to bring immediate insults, backlash, questioning. It’s like stirring up the muck at the bottom of the lake. It was a clean lake and now it’s dirty because of what you are stirring up. Of course I want a clean lake. But it’s not actually clean if the surface is the only thing that looks clean, and there’s all this muck at the bottom just settled. The opinion’s job is to stir up the muck so it can be cleaned out. Let’s talk, let’s figure it out. Let’s face the fact that no one really knows what we are doing and so let’s all just hold hands and make it work as we go along. Let’s really clean the lake. I mean that both figuratively and literally. Water is the most important resource on Earth.

Freedom of Speech, and of expression, is the most important resource to the individual human.

So now what?

Start expressing yourself. Even just as a blog that no one will read. Write to yourself, learn your own opinions. Make up your mind about things. Figure out for yourself what works for you and the expressions you prefer to bring to the world.

You are special, because no one else in all of existence has the exact same experience as you. The world needs your lessons to be shared. Your opinions are yours for a reason. You are safe, because you live in a world that knows how important expression is to the human soul.

Thank you for reading, and thank you to the people and institutions who promote and protect the Freedom of Speech.

-The Happy President, January 21, 2019