“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” Thomas Jefferson’s florid words set the tone for the American Declaration of Independence, but he might be surprised to find that those truths aren’t self-evident for many in this country today. The concerted attempts by the Trump Administration to demean women, deprive voting rights for persons of color, reduce opportunities for public education, and drive an even greater split between the “haves” and “have nots” are creating an American landscape that makes a mockery of the principles that founded this nation. Maybe that’s the point behind the Machiavellian Project 2025.  

Wringing hands and moaning about waiting out the next couple of years won’t help. Depending on who holds power, human rights have been celebrated or demonized for centuries, perhaps millennia, as society gradually has recognized that democratic ideals can be achievable for a broader populace. Within the last century, and especially after the conclusion of World War II, the belief that human rights should be a universal concept has spanned political boundaries across the world. Earlier, Jefferson was inspired by the English philosopher John Locke, the concept of a social contract, and limited representative government. Abraham Lincoln, too, alluded to some of those ideas in his brief and immortal Gettysburg Address. The simple question, though, is: where do universal human rights begin?  

In a presentation to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in late March of 1958, Eleanor Roosevelt answered that question. “In small places, close to home – so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any map of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person: the neighborhood he lives in; in the school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning everywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.”  

Mrs. Roosevelt didn’t mention places of worship, the PTA, social clubs, the tennis court, swimming pool, or on-line gatherings (those would be decades in the future), but her focus was on target. Ensuring universal human rights is dependent on the individual. Governments can enact legislation that promulgates human rights, and enforce against discrimination, but human rights depend on individual practices, on the understanding and extension to neighbor-to-neighbor and, sometimes, stranger-to-stranger. And we should not forget that human rights and the happiness that Jefferson wrote about cannot be separated from economics. Stimulating greater job opportunities for workers and wider markets for farmers and businesses serves the cause of ensuring and expanding universal human rights to an ever-growing population, here and abroad. A review of recent Trump Administration announcements – a rising unemployment rate, a ridiculous war of words and tariffs against our neighbor Canada, engineering the dismissal or firing of military and government employees a la Pete Hegseth – signals an astounding lack of commitment to universal human rights.   

We may never find perfection, but must always continue to try, to continue the fight even as generations mature and disappear. So, the mantra for us, and for succeeding generations, as Eleanor Roosevelt might have advised, is simple: if it is to be, it is up to me.