Liberty

Chapter 11

Liberty

               Patrick Henry, famous American statesman and orator once said, “Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”

Liberty is defined as : freedom from arbitrary or despotic government.

               Many Americans arrived on these shores seeking relief from arbitrary or despotic government.  Many born here chafed at the thought of having to live under such government.

               Liberty.

               Some people confuse liberty with doing anything they want at all without regard to consequences for themselves or others.

               American Liberty is quite another thing.  It is freedom being told to do this or that when you know that it would be better to do some other thing. 

               American Liberty is free from being told not to do something when it makes good sense and would serve the common good to do that thing.

               We have many examples throughout history of this and many instances of it occurring in the United States right now.  The confusion between doing anything a person wants without regard to consequences and doing the right thing is compounded by our system of government which of late has put the process of deciding what is right and wrong in some sort of stylized ritual.

               It is important from a personal point of view for individual Americans to develop their own sense  of Liberty, without which, our government and society can not long continue to operate in any semblance of order.

               As we have seen already American Liberty is a very strong issue and one not to be trifled with.  It is for American Liberty that men and women have died for.  It is American Liberty with which the American flag has become entwined with.

               Benjamin Franklin also took a weighty view of liberty when he wrote, “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

               It is important as Americans that we look to our own to ensure that our lives and fortunes are kept safe and able to prosper.  It will not be done through the orders of some tyrant or ill-informed and selfish politicians.

               Americans, in order to enjoy Liberty must exercise Liberty and have interaction with their elected representatives so that those persons remain grounded in the duties to which they have been assigned.

               It is especially important in today’s world because of the numbers of people involved.  It may be nearly impossible to conceive but it seems that as our population has grown Americans have exercised their Liberty, in regards to interacting with their elected officials, less and less.

               What does this mean to you as an American?

               Quite simply that if you are among those small numbers that exercise your Liberty then it is more than likely that you may meet your goals.  Unfortunately this is a true and apt statement.

               As you exercise your Liberty and enjoy your Liberty others may follow – your family, friends and neighbors.  And is this a bad thing?  I say, ‘Far from it.’, but until you do it you will not know.  Your Liberty is your own.  If you do not exercise it someone will take it away.  It will either go away in a moment with chains clamped upon your arms or bit by bit by bit – hardly noticeably until again, ‘Click!’

               To be free from arbitrary or despotic government can be a consideration for a person concerned with the actions of the Federal Government, the State Government or Local Governments.

               It is possible for persons, as we have seen, to worm their way into public office in order to take advantage for themselves at the expense of their constituents.  Just because we have a democratically elected government working for us in a republic does not mean all of them are honest and hard working.  On the flip side it certainly does not mean they are all corrupt and no good.  A few bad apples, it is said, can spoil the whole bunch – but that is if they are left in there long enough to do it.

               If you notice something out of order in your area, state or at the Federal level, it is your responsibility as an American at the least to notice it and keep an eye on it or bring it to someone’s attention.  This is not ‘ratting someone out’.  This is ensuring that some criminal element or incompetent individual is not doing things they should not be doing at your expense.  The expense to you can be as simple as a loss to your pocket book.  Maybe an unnecessary tax to pay for some service this is really not needed and will be provided by some friend of the corrupt person.  It may be as serious as a loss of Liberty to you.  If you do not act and respond to wicked events, it is known that wicked people will reach ever further in their endeavor to control and take advantage of their environment.

               We have safeguards in our society like local, state and federal police and ethics panels and newspapers – but if they do not know what is going on and you do then you have a responsibility to let your side know.  If you are a sports enthusiast – what would you do if you knew the other team was cheating or stealing your equipment?  Same thing.  Act and respond.  Observe and report.  You would not refer to a Scout on the battlefield as a ‘rat’ so consider the words you use when you are talking about someone who has taken it on themselves to enter onto the battlefield of Liberty.  It’s not an easy thing to do and all Americans should back them up one hundred percent.

               Let us keep in mind these words from the Declaration of Independence, “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.”

               As it has already been mentioned.  The concept of Liberty for Americans is very important and at the root of government and public life as well as business.  It should not be underestimated as a source of action.

               President John F. Kennedy gave particular emphasis to this idea when he said, “Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.”

               In common parlance, ‘Them’s fighting words.’

               It is not only an indication that this is a idea worthy of contention and that Americans will fight for it.  That is obvious from the root.  It is more important to develop a sense of Liberty in thought and deed that is equal to the sacrifice that would be and has been born by millions of Americans merely trying to fulfill for themselves, their family, friends and nation, their own legitimate goals in life.

               It is not hard to see what is at stake when we compare what is happening in tyrannical, despotic or communist nations with what is happening, or should be allowed to happen here in the United States.  The individual is supreme in the United States – not the government.

               Most Americans do not want to be told what to do.

               That is to say once they know what they want to do they would not mind instruction on how to do it.

               Being told what to do, or ordered to do things, however, this is a different story.

               Especially if these orders come from the government.

               That is because American government is rooted in Liberty.

               It is not for the government to lead the parade and tell us which way to march and where to.

               Our personal goals belong to us each individually as Americans.

               How could it be that a faceless government would know our dreams and aspirations?  Even if that government knew them then what would compel it to honor or even respect them?

               The dangers to Liberty in the United States and the way in which the treatment of Liberty suffers or how Liberty is extinguished – if it ever existed at all in other nations or other times – is clear when we look at individual tyrants, presidents-for-life, generals or others who wield military power or act through mob rule.

               It is in those societies that we can see most clearly what happens to the individual person when government becomes arbitrary, despotic or both.

               Laws are written in those circumstances and places to serve the interests of those writing the laws or to serve the government at the expense of the individual.  Laws are written on whim.  They are alternately exercised, enforced, ignored or repealed in a haphazard or chillingly efficient manner that once again benefits those who wrote the laws or the few people benefitting them.  In the worst cases it is done solely for the faceless and unknown government in power.

               When Liberty is understood as a value for and by the individual then this arbitrary and despotic behavior not only becomes unpopular it is held in contempt and everything that can be done to restore or establish Liberty will be done.

               So now we know the depths of individualism with which Americans infuse their ideas and ideals of Liberty and which we highly prize and express as Liberty.

               With these rights of person, privacy and the pursuit of personal goals come along heavy responsibilities.

               It is actually necessary in this case and in a nation based on individual Liberty for each American to keep an eye out for any incursion on that same Liberty which we have established for ourselves and our posterity.

               It Is not enough to pay lip service.

               It is good to have government which performs certain duties.  It is not good for that government or any government – in order to carry out the duties is has arbitrarily declared for its own to force all Americans to give up some part or all of their Liberty in order to do it.  It is not right for the government to enforce laws that curtail or eliminate individual Liberty so that the government may have its way.

               Giving up Liberty for efficiency is to surrender to slavery without a whimper and to place those manacles upon our own limbs that we had forged ourselves.

               American government, simply, is intended to serve and not to be served.

               When American Liberty is expressed it allows for the excellence of the human spirit to be displayed.

               For most of recorded history Liberty was feared by governments and kings and tyrants.   It was crushed down wherever it appeared.

               Even as nations expanded under the old order – whether in warfare or peace – they recreated their own systems of repression and violence that they had most recently removed themselves, as individual people or communities.  They went about rebuilding their own furious and ignorant despotisms only to set the stage again for violence and upheaval to be repeated over and over again.

               Thinking they were ruling themselves they were binding themselves in chains and arbitrary oaths to faceless governments or tyrants – no matter how benign or long lasting they might appear on the surface or through the brightly colored lenses of history.  Chains are chains even if their binding and terrible aspect appears be comforting at first and no matter how bright and shiny and sparkling and pretty they may appear when new.  Chains are chains.

               In the United States Liberty has been enshrined and we must be careful lest we believe Liberty is something provided by the government.

               It is not.

               Liberty is not something that can be legislated.  It is something that can be achieved by men and women in a society only if they decide to achieve it.  It may form on its own for a short time but would not be given the assistance it needs to endure without a structure to ensure that it does continue.

               To paraphrase John Locke, noted author, the natural expression of Liberty is for men and women to realized that to attain what they wish to attain for themselves they must make some arrangement whereby others can also attain their own goals.  That is, if a person wished to receive good from others or wishes to pursue their own goals without interference from others than it is best to offer good to others in the first place and take measures to ensure that any actions taken do not interfere with the actions or outcomes others are attempting to achieved. 

               There are different forms of liberty and different ways in which liberty can be expressed.

               ‘Liberty of the Press’ is important because men and women must be able to freely share their ideas and ideals with others.  If the newspapers and publishers were not at liberty to print what was considered to be popular or necessary questions would arise as to who is the person or what is the organization that would regulate the information so distributed.

               In the present age the flood of information is so great that any attempt to regulate it other than assuring no real hurt is disseminated could very well cause unease in the populace not to mention introduce instability into the commerce of the world.

               There are many governments that do regulate the press.  Without exception they are, so to speak, ‘Behind the Times’, and likely to falter or fail at any time.  Even though they may appear to be strong in the world their place in history and human events is tremulous to say the least.  Closed societies rely on advancement, for the most part, to come from outside.  They are cautious or even paranoid in their dealings with others.  This causes them to rise up a population of rude and ignorant people who themselves, even after the first generation, take on the cautious and paranoid behaviors exhibited to them and even expected of them by their overbearing and interfering governments.

               Some religious organizations, likewise, take on this sort of aspect, but thankfully, do to the broad expanse of humankind’s ability to work towards understanding the infinite these groups are few and far between.  The major religions have a working relationship with the world and express and understanding that the works of humankind sometimes are separate from the works of the Almighty.

               So we have the saying of Jesus, ‘Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and unto God what is God’s.’

               Most religions reflect this behavior.

               Despotic and tyrannical governments do not.  They often refer to themselves as ‘The Fatherland’ and put their goals and the goals of their leaders in the forms normally reserved for family relationships.

               It is true that some national and citizen relationships might be thought of as family relationships but even when we speak of our ‘Founding Fathers’ here in the United States the intent is not to introduce a belief that these people were the physical cogenitors of the United States of America but a strange way of saying they were responsible for bringing the activity all together.

               The inference with a biological act or the inference that it was fertilized and grew like a plant or a child is unfortunate but common enough in the annals of history to be tolerated on the surface but the reality is that this organization and democratic republic is just as much an invention and property of each one of use alive now as it was to those who first began the processes that we know today.  We may shape the form in any way we see fit but the inner meanings of it – which include the expression of Liberty in the broadest human sense – cannot be put aside or the whole thing becomes meaningless.

               The ancient playwright, statesman and poet Euripides wrote these lines from Athens long ago :

                              This is true liberty, when free-born men,

               Having to advise the public, may speak free,

                              Which he who can, and will, deserves high praise;

                              Who neither can, nor will, may hold his peace:

                              What can be juster in a state than this?

               It seem to me that here Euripides is saying, let a person have their say, the same kind of person who would not hold their tongue anyway, that if they are heard, we may hear not only from their own minds but the words of others and that in allowing this one or that one or those to speak, then others, who might have been silent but who know the true way or the reason or truth will not be bound to be silent but will speak up and allow us all to benefit from their wisdom.  That would be wise and just rather than to loudly declare only the thoughts and ways of those powerful enough to command the podium should hold sway and enslave the whole bunch of us.

               This American government in the United States is established under the precept that Liberty is an inalienable individual right accorded to all humans by Providence.  Understanding of this precept is vital to understanding the rights and duties we have as individual Americans.

               This is a government of the people, by the people and for the people.  Not the other way around.

               It is our individual or combined goals, as we see fit, and pursuits, which are tantamount.  We are not here to pledge tithes and work to the ends of the arbitrary and despotic dictates of a government.

               This is Freedom of which we are speaking of and that is what we will discuss next.