What this means to working class people is that we as a country value their labor, but not the worker behind the labor. With this statistic, that measures to the average 40 hour per week worker earning just over fifteen thousand dollars per year, falling well under federal poverty guidelines for a single person in the United States.
Locke noted that this pursuit is not merely an imaginary quest or a satisfaction of personal desires, but an ability to achieve the greatest good free. After all, nearly 100 years before Jefferson penned the Declaration of Independence, Locke wrote that the foundation of liberty is built on the need to pursue happiness. This impacts our economy, our values, our class system, values and our way of life here in America.Īccording to the Department of Labor, our federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. Thomas Jefferson may have been borrowing from the 17th century English philosopher John Locke when he coined the phrase, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Specifically, low working wages thanks to a federal minimum wage that has not risen since the year 2009. Some would say crisis’ or catastrophic events, others would blame the capitalistic system itself, but mostly some can never achieve a certain level of happiness that the Declaration itself says our citizens pursue due to low wages.
Citizen, the never-ending pursuit of happiness is one that almost all fall short of. With life and liberty almost immediately given to the U.S. In what some regard as one of the most influential documents ever penned from our nations’ forefathers, the Declaration of Independence articulates that “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness” (Declaration of Independence, US, 1776) are given rights to all men.