Part 2: of a 28-part series

I want to begin with some presuppositions here. These are the three ideas that I’m building on:

1) I want to propose to you that a way of life is a way of living. I believe that some of you are living in such a way that fits all three categories, but we’re not aware of it. I’m telling you how you’re living, and you’re not even aware of it. This is a broad view of us as a nation. I’m suggesting to you that the American way of life is individual lives progressing from what I call self-evident truth. “Progressing” means we’re not there yet. None of us have arrived. “Progress” means there’s something that’s unfolding.

What is that self-evident truth that pertains to America especially? This is all from the Declaration of Independence, and this again is the original idea that gave birth to this nation, so you can’t run away from it; you can’t deny it.

Our birth certificate says that our life, this nation’s life, began, and is built upon, this idea that all men (“all” being without exception, and to the exclusion of no man, just in case you don’t know what “all” means. “Men” is a generic term for mankind, meaning females too, and children – not your pets, okay?)  are created (now this is troublesome – we’re “progressing” – created equal), and are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And so not all of us are progressing at the same rate in this idea, and that is again at the core of this cornerstone of our existence.

To be continued…