the United States Declaration of Independence. The hallowed principles in its preamble are so fundamental that they are described as self-evident truths—people are created equal, as authorized by a God, and life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are enshrined as natural law. They are therefore incontestable, and the inarguable basis of governance. They are of course fictions, noble lies. Set aside the fact that the men who wrote these words owned other humans as possessions, to be sold and to live their lives enslaved, much of which was justified by a newly invented science of biological
...more
