The Forms of Liberty

Nothing is more certain than that the forms of liberty may be retained, when the substance is gone. John Dickinson, 1768

Marcus Aurelius, in the movie Gladiator, turns to Maximus and remarks, “There was once a dream that was Rome”. In the movie, Maximus was to ensure Rome’s transition back to a Republic and Commodus was to be denied sole imperial power as Emperor. Roman society was divided into social classes. Citizens were divided into patricians (the wealthy), plebeians (all other citizens), and non-citizens (women, slaves and foreigners). The patricians controlled the Roman Senate because they were allocated a greater number of votes to cast than the average citizen. While Rome had the forms of a Republic (i.e., elections, representation in the Senate, etc…), the Emperor wielded absolute power. Plebeians voted but the status quo prevailed.

Progressives would like such an arrangement in the United States. A large federal government headed by permanent political elites would rule over the economy and control our lives. An individual’s right to life, liberty and property would be determined by government bureaucrats, not by our bill of rights. Citizens and non-citizens would cast votes, red and blue, without affecting the glorious collective visions of “elected leaders and representatives”. State sovereignty would yield to the efficiencies of a federal-turned-national government. At that point our nation’s name, United States of America, would only hearken back to the dream that once was in 1776.

The most enslaved is he who thinks himself free without being free. Goethe

The original concept was that each of us is born with a right to life, liberty and property. Europeans had no such concept; an individual’s rights were subject to the government and the social class to which his parents belonged. Americans were limited only by their individual efforts and they were free to practice their faith of choice. Life meant government could not arbitrarily imprison us without due process of law, liberty meant we could do as we pleased provided it did not infringe on our neighbor’s liberty, property meant we could own property regardless of social class or station. We were free and we established the Republic that was specifically designed to thwart tyranny and secure our natural rights.

He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance. The Declaration of Independence, 1776

While the Declaration spoke of King George’s abuses the same statement could be made to describe previous Administrations. Only now the Progressive agenda is larger, more visible and potentially the most destructive. Just stop and think for a moment; how many things can you just go and do without paying some tax or government fee or without conforming to a bureaucrat’s list of rules and procedures? Consider that one third of our nation is not privately owned and belongs to all of us. Even as part-owners, you and I do not have access without government permission, licenses, fees and regulations. All of us would agree to a few common sense rules but our “representatives” are even considering removing fishing as a sport or personal activity. Somewhere along the way we surrendered personal responsibility and allowed for a parental government or nanny state.

Sanctified by authority and armed with power, error and usurpation bid defiance to truth and right… Josiah Quincy, 1774

Before the explosive growth of Federal government, rules and guidelines were established in our local communities. “One size fits all” has been a concept most of us know intuitively to be absurd and bureaucratic. We now must suffer unelected civil servants who will attempt to measure and regulate carbon dioxide without input from our purported representatives in Congress. Other such bureaucrats are in the wings awaiting their opportunity to regulate our activities, our consumption of food and liquids, and our personal habits under the authority of national healthcare. Its constitutionality is unimportant and irrelevant to Progressives. Our opinions and our votes as citizens, red or blue, have become plebeian. To aspire for greatness we have to become a progressive patrician who dislikes capitalism, loves government control over all things, and would see America on its knees before the world.

Education is a weapon whose effect depends on who holds it in his hands and at whom it is aimed. Stalin

Let us commit to refreshing our memories or learning anew the tenets of the Declaration of Independence and our Constitution. The clarity with which our Founders conveyed their message is refreshing. Their message was the result of their studied reflection on the lessons of history, the laws of nature, the nature of man, and an acknowledgement of our Creator.

The founders spoke of the importance of an educated and informed public. To that end Jefferson championed public education. Education is the key ingredient for equal opportunity. Intelligence, talent, creativity are available to rich or poor, tall or short, man or woman. Jefferson in a letter to Charles Yancey in 1816 stated, “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.”

Red or Blue, as Americans we must value the opportunities available to our selves and the next generation. Fundamental knowledge is critical. It must be imparted as objectively as possible and as truthfully as we are able. Yet the public school system has been corrupted by practices that ensure discrimination and skewed opportunities. The funding of public schools makes for a good school here and a terrible school there. Too many administrators only think of increasing budgets and not nearly enough about improving teaching. Mediocrity and incompetence are tolerated. Politicians answer with a call for another test and schools “teach the test”. Textbooks are the targets of political correctness and ideological competition. All of this transpires without regard or concern for the children. The collective cry of concern for the children in the political arena of education is not unlike a communist’s justification of tyranny in the name of the people. The resulting alienation of the marginalized within our society becomes the seed of its eventual destruction. Government centralization and control of education is not the answer as knowledge would only become propaganda. We would return to a world, once round, gone flat.