Liberation for All

Abstract

We just argued that taking the words life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness seriously can have significant implications for our collective humanity. It is interesting that President Obama began his second term with a focus on this phrase by distinguishing between concepts of “self-evident and self-executing.”¹ Obama suggests that while life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are obvious rights, these rights are not always practiced. His inaugural speech emphasized a need to bridge the gap between what is obvious and a need to make the obvious habituated practices.