Celebration of Liberty

It was in a friendly debate recently, when I had considered the possibility that perhaps we should relinquish our rights, in favor of a more aggressive and active government. Perhaps we should be encouraging our Congress to dictate more policies, to facilitate more comforts, and to regulate more in general. Consider Benjamin Franklin's comment that: “Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.” Few would argue that our government and businesses are less corrupt or that our cities are less vicious than in Franklin's day. So, says the diplomat, we are in more need of masters.

I've heard some claim that our Constitution is outdated; that it was designed for a different people from a different age (an age long ago); that we need a revision. John Adams seems to agree. “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” With a 50% estimated infidelity rate, and 33% of Americans not attending church even once each year, some might conclude that our Constitution is no longer applicable.

Franklin says we will be in need of more masters, Adams says the Constitution is inadequate, so do we need a new form of government? Some claim that we need to oust everyone in Washington DC and start over with a group that will follow the correct role of government. The problem with such logic is that the same people will be back at home voting the same group back to Washington. Nothing would change.

The real solution does not lie in sweeping out DC. The real solution does not even lie in an expansion of government.  The real solution certainly does not lie with changing the Constitution. The real solution lies with, and has always lied with, the people. Only the morality of the people can make freedom work. Franklin and Adams did not argue for a new invasive government. They entreated us to be moral. They warned us to maintain religious commitment to virtue, so that we would have no need for oppressive masters.  No system of government will offer liberty, if the community of individuals has forfeited morality. No system of government, however perfect, can offer a debauched citizenry freedom. Samuel Adams warned us about the dangers that accompany relinquished morality: “Though the form of our Constitution carries the face of the most exalted freedom, we shall. in reality. be the most abject slaves.”

It seems to be this celebration—the Day of Independence—that most brings our communities together. We reflect upon the sacrifice of those that fought so valiantly to begin the American experiment, we revel in the freedoms from oppression of tyrannical monarchies, and at times we renew our own commitment to those ideals that were forged in a time more fierce than our own. No matter what our current involvement, if the people do not uphold the work that the founders accomplished, it will fade away.

It was under an imminent threat of torture, suffering and death, that the founding fathers studied, developed and executed a new plan of human liberty, like none ever before attempted. Now we live in an era of microwaves, running water, and laser beams used for everything from scanning groceries at check-out to eye surgery. Will we not, in our luxury, rise to the level of self-government and personal sacrifice required for freedom? Or will our attention to responsibility fade with the dimming embers of the firework finale? Our liberty endures only as long as our morality burns bright. Our freedom lives on, only as long as you and I—the people—remain active advocates of our Constitution.