How much sacrifice to make others ‘happy’?

On Aug. 12 in Wilton, Newt Gingrich made a comment about the Declaration of Independence. He noted it states we are entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as our inalienable rights. Further, Gingrich noted, it does not say we are entitled to happiness but merely the pursuit of happiness. He proposed: What if some lawyer, or activist judge, decided the happy people should share their “happy” with the unhappy people? Now that is an interesting thought.

Imagine a scene in Congress where a Nancy Pelosi type decided that the happy people are happy because they own a little red coaster wagon. She decides they must not only share their “happy” but they also must pay a tax on their wagon. Immediately the teachers unions, the Service Employees International Union, and Department of Health, Education and Welfare agree that this is only fair. Fat pensions for the unhappy are demanded despite the fact that government coffers have been overspent.

Now imagine the Department of Homeland Security, supported by the attorney general, also agrees that happy must be shared with the unhappy illegal aliens. They tell Arizona it cannot secure its border from the unhappy illegal aliens. We also must encourage the unhappy practitioners of radical Islam to build a prayer palace wherever it makes them the happiest. Militant terrorists, bent on the destruction of America, should be granted their day in civilian court in downtown Manhattan so they can be happy.

Is this story absurd? Of course it is. Or maybe not.

Arleigh Clemens

Coralville