Freedom has always been kind of a point of emphasis for me. I mean that as a kid I was given lots of freedom but I never felt like I had as much as I should have had. I am very hard headed and stubborn. So, I always wanted to do what I wanted to do. I liked that way. If I was right, I was rewarded and if I was wrong I understood that there could be negative consequences. That was a perfectly reasonable deal I felt. Of course, my parents did what they could to mitigate the negative consequences of my way of doing things. Now, when the problem is wanting to do things my way, my parents were in a double bind. Do nothing and I was free to do as I pleased or try to control me and restrict my freedom which went against the grain for me. I guess you could say I wasn’t into being guided. I tell you this to try and give you an idea of the depth of my passion about freedom. Let me do what I want to do. Mind your own business unless what I am doing is in a way your business. If what I am doing is violating your freedom, please let me know because I damned sure respect your right not to be bothered by me, and vice versa. So, I start there. I should be free to do what I want to do as long as the exercise of that freedom runs into someone else’s freedom.
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The right to live your life. The way you see fit. That’s where that Liberty comes in. That’s the part where you get to chose how you live your life. That is just the basis idea, but in the case of government it has a special meaning. Living out in the woods you may not have to worry too much about the government part of the meaning, but if you live in a society, a collective group of people all of whom have agreed to give up some freedoms in exchange for other considerations societal living provides. Different societies have different needs and different restrictions of freedoms are very much a part of that.
Late Eighteenth Century colonies in North America were a group of societies, and they were very different in their ways of governing their societies. But, they all lived under the umbrella of a bigger society. That society was governed by a king. By then, the King of England had had some limits imposed upon him by the people over whom he governed on the home island of England, but he had enormous power of the freedoms of those far off societies in the New World. That was the world of the time. Kings and queens ruled the people in their kingdoms. Kingdoms provided a measure of protection from other kingdoms, and other groups of people who believed only in the right of power to take from those without power. They had the right to take and you had the right to try and keep them from taking. The king’s government might bee of help and also, family, friends, and neighbors could help.
In the colonies, the reliance on the government of the King in England and the family, friends, and neighbors to protect a became very different that the society of England. The entire idea of governance changed. The people of the colonies had learned that the King was way too far away to be of much help in providing what they needed-protection and rules of how they would decide things to replace the decision making that had been the king’s. They got so good at this that they decided that there was a different way of doing things. The people of the colonies had had the freedom to do much as their individual societies had determined was allowable, the same societies had figured out ways to make those determinations, and those things could be changed by them. They had that freedom. They finally, gathering strength from each of their diverse societies made the decision to let the king know that he was no longer needed or wanted, and therefore they would no longer be taking orders from him. They laid it all on the line and against all odds, along with the help of another very foolish and shortsighted king, they prevailed. The king of France in his determination to stick it to the King of England assisted in the birth of a whole new kind of way to determine freedom and restrictions on them and who makes those decisions. The French people saw what the people in North America had done and they were so starved for a change that they went off the rails!
As we prepare to celebrate our country’s Declaration of Independence and our beginnings as a country each of us should take some time to reflect on just where we stand as individuals and as a society on the delicate balance of freedom and governance. Ask if you have more freedom, less freedom, or the same as always. Each of us will have our own answers to that question. Then ask yourself if you think that the balance is just right or not. Those two answers to those two questions will impact the next question. That is this, are you doing what you can to ensure that the perfect balance is kept or correct any imbalance. By the way, I am not asking anyone to enlist, not that that is a bad thing. What I am asking you to do is actively resist incursions on your precious freedom as there are tyrants all around, large and small who wish to impose their wishes upon you at the expense of your freedom, your right. They have the ever popular excuse to use that it is for the public good. This allows unlimited demolition of your rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. If you stand up for your individual rights they will accuse you of the always popular and effective with those simple minded folks easily persuaded, “You’re just being selfish and thinking only of yourself!” Try to argue the history of your freedom against this kind of attack. First, you have to realize that some will not want to even debate it or try to learn. They are flat out tyrants. Your wishes are of no concern. Then there are the people that think life should be fair. They too, are hopeless. There’s no such thing as fair but there is such a thing as people who believe they can force fairness. Tyrants, if you allow them to be or if they get enough power. So, you have pared down the number of possible people with whom you can really have a chance with in answering the attack above. You have to know that you are right, though. You have to know that what you have is that precious thing men have given their lives for forever and those who do not recognize it, or cherish it have always been in the minority. You have to be brave to be able to keep your freedom. There is no rest. It is attacked 24 hours a day but a countless number of enemies. It always will be. It is the few who cherish freedom who are willing to fight for it that allow the many to reap the rewards, often in spite of themselves.
Please honor those who gave all, those who didn’t but were willing to, and those who fight the daily battles to keep our freedoms from fading away. Do that, do some fighting yourself for freedom, and I hope that you can do it with family, friends, strangers or by yourself this Fourth of July. Be a hero.