Source: The Daily Economy
by John C Goodman
“The idea that people have an unalienable right to pursue their own happiness is a very radical idea. Prior to the eighteenth century, almost no one in the world believed it. Even today, only a small sliver of humankind agrees with it. Equally radical is the idea that the only purpose of government is to protect that right. We can quibble about some of the details, but the central idea is unequivocal. If you and I both have the right to pursue our own happiness, it would be wrong for a government to impose burdens on you just to make me happier. Critics of this political philosophy invariably note that some of the authors of the Declaration of Independence owned slaves. But remember, just about everyone else in the world at the time thought that there was no such thing as an individual right.” (08/01/25)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/pursuit-of-happiness-the-growth-of-a-radical-idea/