Saturday, April 16, 2011

Debating the Pursuit of Happiness

     The debate about the future of America must be about more than politics and the economy of the country.  It must be about the people, their education, their values, their relationships, their religion (the relevance of one's own faith) and the implications of each in the people's pursuits of quality, meaningful and productive lives.  
     In times like these, people who are respected and consensus experts in these areas of expertise should be joining economists and politicians in the debate about the nation's future, speaking to the implications of their particular areas of expertise to this matter of pursuing happiness in the United States.  Teaching about the relevance of these areas in seminaries and in the classrooms of great universities--and especially not teaching about them at all--are not sufficient in a nation still experimenting with securing the blessings liberty for everyone.  
     The country--the people at home--needs to hear from them.  The listeners of CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX and MSNBC need to hear.  And the broadcast and printed media need to invite their points of view in addition to those of economists and politicians--and just as often.
     We are in the midst of a great political and ideological debate.  But it's about more than about Democrats and Republicans believe:  it's about what it means--or should mean--to be an American.  It's the most urgent, timely and engaging debate the nation would have had since the eighteenth century.

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