On the Square Today

James R. Rogers on the meaning of the “the pursuit of happiness” :

The right to “the pursuit of happiness” affirmed in the Declaration of Independence is taken these days to affirm a right to chase after whatever makes one subjectively happy. Further, the Declaration doesn’t guarantee the right to happiness, the thought usually goes, but only the right to pursue what makes you happy. This reading of the Declaration’s “pursuit of happiness” is wrong on both scores.