Happiness is the psychological state of living successfully, of achieving the values that human life requires. By its very nature, the pursuit of happiness is an egoistic, or selfish, endeavor. You cannot achieve happiness for others, nor can they achieve happiness for you.
The pursuit of happiness means the pursuit of your values—those goals and achievements that sustain and enhance your life. The right to pursue happiness is not a guarantee of success, but rather, the freedom to work to create and earn the values that you choose. The right to pursue happiness means the right to act according to your judgment in the pursuit of your values.
Individuals have different values. Some value basketball while others value ballet. Some value life in the city while others value life in the country. Some value steak tartar while other value soy tofu. Freedom recognizes this fact and provides the social context in which each individual can pursue his values—his happiness—without intervention from others. Freedom recognizes your moral right to choose both the ends and the means, so long as you recognize the mutual rights of others.
Throughout history individuals have fled tyrannies in search of freedom. Hundreds died trying to climb the Berlin Wall to escape a communist dictatorship. Hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese risked their lives as “boat people” to escape communism. Millions have fled repressive regimes of many forms for America. These individuals did not seek freedom in order to work for the “common good.” They sought a life in which they were free to act as they choose. They sought freedom so that they and their children could pursue their own personal happiness. They sought freedom for their own selfish benefit.