A true observation, I believe, about the voting public in America today is that, by and large, we are not a very thoughtful bunch. If it can’t be reduced to a sound bite, then it is probably too complicated for public consumption. Political engagement today has devolved, for many, into a team sport – the back and forth partisan struggle for power and the talking points of the battlegrounds where it takes place. It’s amazing and depressing to think that the intellectually-rich Federalist Papers were a series of articles published for a public audience. What a far more serious and educated people we must have been! It is a sobering observation to remember that Thomas Jefferson founded the University of Virginia based upon the conviction that this experiment in democracy could only be sustained by an educated and involved populace.
It’s a real problem, our shallow participation in “self-government.” After all, Americans share a solemn duty to safeguard our own freedom – to protect this great experiment in personal liberty; yet many of us so utterly misunderstand this charge, that we are willing to give the responsibility over to the very entity that would subjugate us – our government. We get liberty confused with merely the ideas of repelling invaders or speaking our minds. But liberty does not boil down to just the First Amendment, and a foreign invader would only diminish liberty if their laws proved more restrictive than those of the vanquished government.
Our founders were in pursuit of a much greater idea than many today fully understand. They launched a crusade against a very specific dynamic of the human condition, and everything that they did was to neutralize it. They recognized a two-fold truth, demonstrated time and again throughout history: Power is subjugation; and Power, unchecked, will always seek to expand itself.
The beauty of the American experiment is that the cancer of Power was diffused throughout the populace – an attempt to deny it a toe-hold. This was not one of many concerns that our founders sought to address as they crafted this new nation; it was THE concern. Limiting Power’s reach was the entire purpose of the endeavor. Liberty is only present in the absence of Power. Power could be literally defined as control over someone else’s freedom – be it the freedom to worship or the freedom to build a garage without having to obtain permission. What is freedom if it’s not found in the minutiae of how we live our daily lives? For many Americans, Liberty has become an abstract caricature, represented by a black man being freed from his chains. But our founders had not experienced literal slavery; they suffered under a subtler sort – burdened down by the weight of King George’s laws and taxes. They dreamed of a land where the government did its best to make itself invisible, where a man could live under rules of his own making. This was why powers were clearly limited by the constitution, why there are three branches set in tension against each other, why there is power reserved to the states – it was all an effort to thwart the growth of Power, the creep of subjugation.
Our founders knew that their efforts weren’t enough, though. Power, seeking to expand, is like ivy pushing its way through a stone wall -- it seeks out the crevices and worms its way into them, patiently, relentlessly. Only a vigilant populace, who understood what they were protecting, could keep it in check – could sustain the American experiment in Liberty. Otherwise, freedom would disappear, one bite at a time, and Power would grow, drawing ever-more unto itself.
It is very significant to look back and see that the public was engaged in the discussion of the Federalist Papers – if they had adopted a posture that “great minds were thinking for them” and went about their business, then the Idea would have failed from the start. The entire American experiment was based upon a very literal understanding of “self-government” – the people being actively engaged in the business of their representatives. Not government by the elite; not government by the career professional; but government “of the people, by the people, for the people.” As soon as we defer to the “expertise” of those in government, we have lost our ability to effectively defend our freedom.
Yes, the world is more complex; which means that our duty to educate ourselves has never been greater. It is, however, a deception, antithetical to the founding ideals of America, that Liberty is not suited for times as complex as these. Nothing has changed in the human condition since the Constitution was penned; nor have the lessons of history become obsolete. Pointing to technology, globalization, and population density as reasons to “modify” the ideal of Liberty, is nothing more than Power playing a shell game – hoping to confuse the public into allowing it to grow stronger.
But the greatest threat facing Liberty may lie elsewhere. Many, today, are all too willing to shoulder the yoke of servitude in exchange for the security of the Master’s table. Power, sniffing weakness, presses forward: offering soothing promises and whole-hearted agreements that there needs to be a balance between freedom and “security” – the State needs to be “entrusted” with the responsibility of maintaining the well-being of its populace. After all, there are people who have fallen on hard times who need a helping hand, old people who need medication, children and pets who may be getting mistreated, safety standards needed for all manner of things, and inequalities that need to be smoothed…The “least of these” must be protected, and the State is the only one who cares enough to do it.
If one believes that it is the State’s role to address the myriad challenges of daily life, then they have a certain political philosophy, and it may very well come from a place of sincerity; but it is most certainly not an American sentiment. It holds a vision of America as a place diametrically opposite from where we began. Benjamin Franklin said: “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
That’s a strong statement, and it draws a pretty clear line in the sand. Liberty is not always perfect, but the alternatives have always been far worse. It is each man’s responsibility to freely pursue the “Golden Rule”; it is not the State’s place to do it for him. The State has no soul. The State has proven time and again that its first concern has always been for its own well-being. The State’s addiction to Power inevitably leads to a God Complex; and history has made it abundantly clear that God is a role that the State does not play well.
America, today, has never before in her history been at such a crossroads. Yes, for quite some time, there has been a gradual erosion of freedom, as Power has surreptitiously crept forward; but, today, there is something fundamentally different in the air – a perfect storm of events, that have conspired to bring into question the very merits of freedom. We must understand that there are two very opposite schools of thought about where America should go from here, and those who unapologetically support the concentration of power in the State have the upper hand – in fact, they are very close to achieving a momentum that will be very hard to ever reverse. So make no mistake, we are teetering on a moment, and the very premise of our country hangs in the balance. It would be well that we understand the significance of our time and rise to the occasion. If our freedom is worth defending – if the idea of America is worth defending – then now is the time to do it. The hour is quickly fading, and once it is gone, there probably won’t be another chance to get it right.
1 comment:
Sobering.
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