Liberty or Slavery

Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. *Benjamin Franklin*

Arguably the wisest of our founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin penned these words in 1756.  He defined liberty as essential and safety as temporary. It is crucial for us to absorb this reality.  Twenty years later, Patrick Henry reiterated the same sentiment by simply saying “Give me liberty or give me death.”  The architects of our constitution had exceptional insight into the dangerous consequences of acquiescence. We must never concede to blindly delegating our individual security to a domineering, intrusive government.

Less than two decades after winning our independence, we betrayed our own virtues by passing the Alien and Sedition Acts. Fast forward to the twenty-first century we passed the Patriot Act, once again recklessly surrendering to irrational fears.  Now we face a new indoctrination specifically engineered to erode our individual agency.  The National Government is collaborating with some States to instill panic into the hearts and minds of our citizens.

Introducing terror into a society expedites the eager compliance of the people. Starting with fear of Native Americans, then The French, then African Americans, then Japanese Americans, then Middle Eastern Americans, now an invisible foe…. a virus. Our prudent dedication to knowing history is our single defense against repeating it.  Oppressive regimes have utilized fear for millennia to dilute an individual’s capacity for critical thinking. We become convinced of our own depravity.

Unreasoned submission to authority is the dawn of slavery. We must never resign to blind obedience in order to feed an insatiable appetite for protection from an enemy, albeit real or imaginary. We must never grow weary of defending our unalienable rights of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. Freedom is not free, and freedom can never come from relying on a soulless Government to think for us. Liberty is our birthright, paid for by the blood of our founding fathers. Evil wants to steal our inheritance, and evil can’t be reasoned with. It is essential for us to defend what is rightfully ours.