Dead Men's Law

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

"We hold these truths to be self-evident"

We
Who is we? 
Who is included in this group? Men? Americans? Whites?

Truth
What is a truth? 
Something we know to be real. 


Is a pure truth something that exists without an experience of that truth - it is just there, a fact, a real thing that exists without interpretation? 
But how can anything exist without an interpretation? 


Self Evident?
Ok, accept we've somehow gotten a truth, how do we know it is a truth? 
Where is the objectivity in deciding we've attained it truth? 
How do we even know we have been objective and know what objectivity is?  
Surely the best we can hope for is mutually corroborated inter-subjectivity.
Therefore, how can any truth be self evident? 


We decide amongst ourselves and mutually corroborate what is objective and then, because we're all in agreement, we decide that something is self evidently a truth.

"that all men are created equal"

All men.
All? Regardless of race or religion or nationality?
Just men? Not women? All humans?  Including those with IQs of 40? 


Created?

Are men created or just born? 

Created implies a creator and is therefore inherently religious - bringing the metaphysical once more into politics and what is supposed to be the realm of the practical and possible. Therefore should such a notion even be considered?

Equal

What is equal? 

All humans are created equal? 

Where is the evidence to support this?

Equal is defined as what?

Equal in what terms? Mental ability? Physical ability? Some kind of ephemeral and theoretical equality?  Mentally and physically we are clearly not equal. Some people are quantifiably different  than others. Some are bigger, faster, stronger, quicker. 

Where does the notion of equality come from?

It is a construction of humanity. 

Why should it exist when there is nothing in nature to indicate this should be so? 

Why must we be thought of as equal when the facts indicate that in reality, we're anything but?  Equality is a fine notion but it is a notion that appears to be a nothing more than a naive, romantic contrivance. 

In order for this statement to be true, then equality must refer to something vague and intangible, something metaphysical? 

Or something that plainly does not exist.

"that they are endowed by their Creator

with certain unalienable Rights"

They
i.e. Men

Are endowed by their Creator
Who or what is that creator? 

A single creator? 

What evidence is there to support this? 

How can we know this? 
If we cannot know this for sure, should we be including it within the political arena?

Certain unalienable rights
What are those rights?
Why are some things considered rights and others are not?
Why are they rights?
Why are they unalienable?
What makes them unalienable?

"that among these are Life, 

Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Life
The right to Life is an unalienable right?
So the State cannot have the right to take this from anyone?


Liberty
Liberty is unalienable?
The State has no right to take this?

The Pursuit of Happiness 
What is Happiness? 
How can we quantify it so the state can regulate it or protect it? 
It's vague, it's opinion and in politics, it has no place. 


Conclusion
The statement is meaningless. It's rhetoric and it was designed to sound good. Upon examination, it doesn't really hold up. It's an ancient artifact and though the intentions may have been good, the execution needs to be replaced with one that is relevant to a modern society.