The truth about freedom

What is freedom, and what does it mean?

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines freedom as “the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action…the power or condition of acting without compulsion.”

What this means to the average American living in freedom every day is being able to choose what you say or do without government restraint or compulsion to say or do something else.

America’s founding generation regarded essential liberty as being able to say or do what one wants, but choosing to do or say what one should instead. In other words, the founders believed in the freedom to choose right from wrong without having to be compelled to do right by government.

This is the Enlightenment principle of self-governance, or self-regulation, which establishes that when men are given the freedom to choose right from wrong, and they do so, then there is little need for laws that compel men to do what they ought to.

America’s founding generation believed so strongly that men were capable of making such choices freely that it set out to establish a new nation built upon an entirely new political system. Thus, what has been known for more than two centuries as the "Great Experiment," the result of which was the establishment of a Constitutional Republic, the basis for which is trust in the individual to do the right thing.

Evidence of this is in the establishment of the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, as the foundation of American society and government. These rights are grounded in the philosophical tenets of the Age of Enlightenment; specifically, the Fundamental Rights of Man as detailed and articulated in the writings of philosophers John Locke, Immanuel Kant and Thomas Hobbes, as well as authors Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson et al.

Jefferson penned perhaps the most profound expression of trust in the individual with these words from the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

How much trust does it take to guarantee a person life (to be and exist), liberty (the ability to choose) and the pursuit of happiness (to do what makes one content)? Or, even more poignantly, to guarantee the right to keep and bear arms, thereby fully entrusting the individual with his own security and that of his neighbors?

A substantial sum, to be sure.

Yet, so strongly was the belief and conviction of Jefferson and many others of his time in individual trust and self-governance that they literally staked their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor to establish a society that practiced such values.

Trust in the individual.

Such a notion seems as obscure today just as it was at the time of the American Revolution.

Once upon a time in America, trusting the individual to do the right thing was a concept both commonly believed and widely practiced. There was a time when Americans put more faith in God, and in the private citizen that served Him, than in government and legislation. There was once a time when confidence in the individual trumped confidence in government.

I fear those times are gone.

Maybe I’m wrong—and I hope that I am—but it seems to me that there is much less trust in the individual to do the right thing these days, and a greater trust in the government to keep the individual honest and in line with the law.

Meanwhile, American politicians pay lip service to freedom and liberty by defending choice and touting the Bill of Rights without really understanding or appreciating the very basis of those laws.

Elected officials will proclaim loudly their support of the First Amendment—and in particular the freedom speech—and then turn right around and pass yet another law telling us what we cannot do all in the name of the public good and to protect us from ourselves.

There appears to be a prevailing notion in America that freedom means doing and saying whatever one wants. Our politicians especially subscribe to this belief.

Why? Because each violation against somebody else grants them license to pass more laws for our own good.

Politicians encourage us to do whatever we want, because they know that many people will do so without consideration of others and despite any consequences. They understand human nature, which is to think and act impulsively. They recognize that many Americans will do whatever they want just because they think they can and that liberty affords them a right to do so. Political demagogues are counting on the fact that thousands of violations against others will occur in the name of freedom all because people think they can do whatever they want.

Each occasion we violate others with our freedom gives politicians an excuse to step in and say “this is wrong,” and “I’m going to propose a law to fix it.”

In other words, more laws meant to keep you and me from governing and regulating ourselves.

This is why freedom is so fragile. It can be lost much more easily than it is gained. All that is required to lose essential liberty is to take it for granted and take advantage of freedom by doing whatever one wants, rather than consider others and do what one should.

Political leaders are more than willing to step in and govern us if we choose not to do it ourselves. All one has to do is look at the United States Code and the tens of thousands of laws that have been passed over the years in an effort to keep the people honest and in line, because the government doesn’t trust the people to do the right thing.

Quite frankly, We The People haven’t really given our elected leaders much reason to trust us, either. Truth be told, we’ve done a very poor job of self-regulation in modern times. Instead, we tend to give into our impulses just because we can and have the freedom to do so. Unfortunately, the choice to do wrong rather than right—doing what we want instead of what we ought—has resulted in myriad laws meant to protect us from ourselves because we are not trusted. We aren’t counted on any more to do the right thing. Rather, government is relied upon to do the right thing for us and to make sure we comply.

Current state laws banning cellular telephone use while driving serve as an example, an object lesson, of how our failure to do the right thing results in the loss of choice without fear of compulsion; otherwise known as essential liberty.

Politicians have consequently taken it upon themselves to propose and pass laws that prohibit us from using cell phones while driving, because the public must be protected from itself. The people cannot be trusted to do the right thing. Therefore, government must do it for them.

Well, we’ve only ourselves to blame for that. We abused the freedom to choose to do the right thing by doing the wrong thing simply because we had the liberty to do so. Consequently, the government has essentially taken away that choice by compelling us to do the right thing.

Do you see? True freedom and essential liberty are defined by the ability to freely choose without compulsion, or fear of it. When you choose to do the right thing, you put the power to govern and regulate into your hands, instead of in the hands of government. By doing what one should or ought to do, rather than what one can or wants to do, one takes power away from government and puts it into the hands of the individual.

Benjamin Franklin, a Founding Father, statesman, ambassador and inventor, said it best: “Those who would trade essential liberty for a little temporary security are deserving of neither liberty nor security.”

What he meant was that those who defer to the government what they could otherwise do for themselves do not deserve either the freedom to choose, or the security of government to choose for them.

He’s right. Americans don’t deserve essential liberty if they are willing to let the government tell them what they ought to do. They don’t deserve government security, either, because they aren’t disciplined enough or willing to act with personal restraint; that is, doing what they should.

Character Ian Malcolm, played by Jeff Goldblum, in the movie “Jurassic Park,” summed up essential liberty with this: “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.”

One of my all-time favorite movie lines.

Millions of Americans have become so preoccupied with whether or not they can do or say something that they have never stopped to think if they should do or say something. The Internet, with its social media outlets and its anonymity, is case in point.

Consequently, government gets bigger and its oversight into our daily lives more invasive and expansive. More laws get passed every day under the guise of our own safety and for our own good.

What we don’t see is the harm this does to essential liberty and its impact on individual freedom. The impact of a single law alone may be so insignificant that most people wouldn’t even know it exists; but the impact of thousands of laws just like it can not only be felt, but also plainly seen.

When you chip away at a tree, one chip or shaving seems to make little difference. However, hundreds or thousands of shavings can mean the difference between a tree and a stump. If we look at all the laws passed for our own good, we might be shocked at just how different liberty looks after all the chips that have been taken to it over the years and the piles of shavings that are left are counted.

Just remember: Each new law passed for the public good is yet another shaving off the statue of essential liberty. Each one we allow reduces essential liberty that much more to an unrecognizable pile of shavings.

It is time to take a stand for essential liberty by taking control of our lives. Take back control of government and regulation by beginning again to regulate and govern ourselves. Preserve essential liberty and the choice to act by practicing to do right more often. The more we can choose to do right, the less likely we will be compelled to do right.

And that, my friends, is what essential liberty is all about. Now, go and do the right thing.