he government shouldn't get in your way of pursuing happiness but isn't obliged actively assist you.
Why, yes, what I meant to say there was that the government should enable you to pursue happiness in any way you choose, by guaranteeing your liberty to choose who to work for, what to work at, and how much you work. To be precise, the freedom to do whatever you want with your very limited time on this earth (I think people will still end up working just as much, when offered this freedom, unless they deliberately want to starve en masse, among other losses of comfort). The government isn't actually helping you be happy in any particular way, they just make sure you are able to pursue whatever would make you happy.
Of course, that's not Marxism: Marx would have said that "from each in accordance with their capacity, to each according tot their necessity", which I think is utterly dumb: who's going to decide how much ouput one is capable of, or where one's needs stop?
Of course, if your notion of happiness is, say, to be someone's slave, the government shouldn't get in the way of you pursuing that. I'd be curious to see how many people do choose slavery over freedom.
Anyway, the Constitution forbids the Government to get in the way of your happiness, it doesn't forbid it to make that pursuit easier for you, unless that gets in the way of your happiness. But then you could just reject their help, right?
Why, yes, what I meant to say there was that the government should enable you to pursue happiness in any way you choose, by guaranteeing your liberty to choose who to work for, what to work at, and how much you work. To be precise, the freedom to do whatever you want with your very limited time on this earth (I think people will still end up working just as much, when offered this freedom, unless they deliberately want to starve en masse, among other losses of comfort). The government isn't actually helping you be happy in any particular way,
Yes it is. ...
I have found this most wonderful (if fairly lengthy) article, and thought you would enjoy having it brought to your attention.
It is so good, I think we should include it among the references in the "Politics is the Mind Killer" wiki page. But, before that, I submit it to you, and ask you: is there anything in this article that would warrant its exclusion from this site? I mean, besides the fact that it is about politics, and written by a notorious Social-democrat (And is that in itself grounds for exclusion?).