By Don Jans
The United States is no longer a nation that protects individual liberty. Individual liberty was the reason we fought the American Revolution. Individual liberty was paramount when the United States Constitution was written and ratified. Individual liberty was the reason the American people insisted the Bill of Rights become a part of the United States Constitution.
James Best wrote, “Today, liberty and freedom are used almost interchangeably. In fact, a modern American hears the term freedom more frequently because liberty has become somewhat outmoded. The Founders viewed these two concepts as very different. In their minds, man granted freedom to his fellow man, but liberty came from a higher authority. Every human was endowed with natural rights and the free exercise of those rights was called liberty. On the other hand, a person released from slavery or indentured servitude became a free person.”
Our founders also understood that liberty, despite liberty coming from a higher authority, would be attacked by ambitious men who would use the mechanisms of government to threaten liberty. This threat would be constant and never-ending.
[A] dangerous ambition more often lurks behind the specious mask of zeal for the rights of the people than under the forbidding appearance of zeal for the firmness and efficiency of government. History will teach us that the former has been found a much more certain road to the introduction of despotism than the latter, and that of those men who have overturned the liberties of republics, the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people, commencing demagogues, and ending tyrants. — Alexander Hamilton, Federalist 1
Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add ‘within the limits of the law’, because law is often but the tyrant’s will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual. — Thomas Jefferson
There are again two methods of removing the causes of faction: the one, by destroying the liberty which is essential to its existence; the other, by giving to every citizen the same opinions, the same passions, and the same interests. — James Madison, Federalist 10
Thomas Jefferson told us how liberty would be lost when he told us that liberty is lost gradually from an uninterested, uninformed, and uninvolved people.
“Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add ‘within the limits of the law’ because law is often but the tyrant’s will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.” Thomas Jefferson
As the people become less and less vigil in guarding and protecting liberty, the aspiring tyrant becomes less covert and more bold in using government laws and mandates to violate both the liberty and the rights of the individual. This has happened in the United States. We see it as parents surrendered their responsibilities of raising their children and instilling within those children the values of both the Creator and our founding documents which reflect our founding principles.
For decades, public schools have encroached on some basic parental responsibilities — from feeding kids to health care to helping with homework, as the schools assumed the parents’ role of instilling values in the minds of the children. Sadly, it was the parents’ who encouraged these programs which enabled the schools to become indoctrination centers.
Madison warned us about the dangers of a society where citizens are forced to have the same opinions, same passions, and same interests. Karl Marx told us that conformity was a critical element to bring about the transformation of a free society to a Marxist totalitarian state. Gradually, through laws, mandates, and court opinions, the freedom of speech, which is also the freedom of thought, has been restricted. Conformity to government demands in both our life decisions and our thoughts is being enforced by our government and by the American Left.
We, who are Freedom Loving Americans, must understand that those liberties endowed upon us by our Creator have been greatly curtailed. If we do not rise up with the same fervent dedication to individual liberty that brought forth the United States of America, all liberty and freedom will be gone for generations.
What we must do is become interested, informed, and involved. To be interested means that we do not shirk our duties by feigning disinterest so as not to become involved in controversy and risking disdain by the transformation element, but that we learn and understand the topics of the day, those very topics that are threatening the extermination of individual liberty for all.
We must become informed. That means we learn or relearn why our founders were so determined to bring forth a nation that was dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal and are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that amongst those are the right to liberty, to life, and to the pursuit of happiness. We must also become informed as to why the American Left is so adamant that all rights and liberties come from government and government has the right to regulate or eliminate any right, any liberty, it believes is in the best interest of government.
We must become involved. It is the area of involvement that gives this Freedom Loving American so much hope. To see people all around the country becoming involved in our schools, in our local governments, and in our national government, is very encouraging. To see this involvement not done in the name of a political party, but in the name of individual liberty and freedom is even more encouraging. A citizen dedicated to the cause of liberty, as opposed to a party platform, is a citizen that is truly a Freedom Loving American.
When the next great phase of being interested, informed, and involved, happens, we can be assured that our nation will once again be that “shining city on the hill” bringing hope to the world that liberty, freedom, and opportunity abound when a people are interested, informed, and involved. That next essential phase is our nation again truly being that nation which is “under God”, where we elect God fearing individuals to office, where we take responsibility for our children by taking them to Sunday School, and by us being an example to them by exhibiting what is a good and God-fearing citizen. It is then and only then that our nation will again be the recipient of the blessings of the Almighty, and where our individual liberties are restored.
Don Jans is a national acclaimed author and speaker. He is also a lifelong student of history, with a special emphasis on Russian history. His study of Russian history led to 1917 which led to the study of the teachings of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Don has written five books on the topic of Collectivism (Marxism, Communism, Socialism, Fascism, and Progressivism).
Don has been a guest on numerous nationally and regionally broadcast radio programs. He is a weekly guest on a nationally broadcast radio program where he discusses collectivism and how it is impacting the United States, relating current happenings to the collectivist agenda.
Don has spoken to numerous groups across the nation on the topic of who and what is the United States and who and what is collectivism. The collectivist movement has called for a transformation of the United States. What is critical for all to understand is what is the transformation; what are we now and into what will we be transformed.
Don’s speaking approach is the same as his writing approach, and that is to be direct and straight forward with no regard for the current mandated approach of political correctness.
Samuel Adams said, “It does not take a majority to prevail… but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men.” If we are to remain free, we must be about setting brushfires of freedom.
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