In writing our Declaration of Independence, our nation’s founders recognized that we humans have certain undeniable rights. These rights include life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and they come from our Creator, not from a king or a government. History is filled, and will continue to be filled, with lengthy discussions about what exactly counts as life, the specific liberties to which we are entitled and what types of happiness we should be allowed to pursue, but the basic truth remains the same: No government can legitimately deny its citizens any of these three basic rights, even if its purported goal is to protect one of the others.
During this pandemic, we have seen governments all over the world, including here in Alaska, severely curtail the people’s rights to liberty and the pursuit of happiness with the supposed goal of protecting life. While this is improper on its face, as our three basic rights are equal in importance, it also fails to accomplish the goal because life is about far more than merely breathing and having a heartbeat: Life is about experiencing things and learning from them; it’s about taking risks, getting hurt, brushing oneself off and trying again; it’s as much about the bad times as it is about the good. In short, it’s about living a full life.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy has finally realized this and set Alaska free from the burden of his coronavirus health mandates. I commend him for this, and call on Mayor Berkowitz and other leaders to do the same.
Philip R. Bagian
Anchorage
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