It reminds me of the American Declaration of Independence where Thomas Jefferson wrote about the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, which was inspired by the ideas of Renaissance philosophers, such as John Locke. I think it means that the idea of government promoting happiness has a history of support from important philosophers, writers and government officials.

Figuratively, one thinker's ideas mix with other ideas, combine, almost mate, and generate or give birth to other ideas in the minds of other thinkers. So, figuratively, you can construct a kind of family tree of great ideas, and talk about some ideas as being the ancestor of other ideas. A "pedigree" means a formal, certified family tree that proves someone or some animal is "legitimate" and descended from noble ancestors. When reading the passage above--I can imagine an argument that goes like this: "The government has a responsibility to promote happiness." "Nonsense." "But that idea comes from the Declaration of Independence. Which was written by Jefferson. Who got the idea from Locke, who got it from [someone], who got it from [someone], who got it from Plato, who got it from Aristotle. I didn't make it up myself. It's a very legitimate idea with a very distinguished intellectual pedigree." "I don't care about the intellectual pedigree, that idea is always a threat to human freedom."

Thank you, I got it.

Simply it means: (intellectual pedigree) = Whatever the origin of his thought. Pedigree= Origin

Do you know what "pedigree dog" mean?