© 2009 by Michael Swickard, Ph.D.
The most ironic outcome of our revolution was it later resulted in freedom for the descendants of English soldiers who tried to keep us enslaved to their King. Even with our freedom example, it took many years for the English to become truly free.
There was not freedom in the world in 1776. People never experienced freedom so it was hard to visualize being free. This Independence Day, we should note that in 1776 a most fortunate thing happened. Some people developed a glimmer that it was the natural order of man to be free. These were thinkers like Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin and others.
The difference in our revolution was our leaders wrote their thoughts so that people all over the world could read, think and visualize freedom. When the words of our national anthem were written in 1814, ours was the only free nation in the world. Slowly, over the years, other countries became free.
Currently there are 195 countries in the world. About 90 lean toward freedom in that their people understand freedom to some extent. People in the other countries are ruled by dictators and do not understand freedom because they have never been free.
Sustaining freedom
What is freedom and how can we sustain it? Nine concepts sustain freedom:
1) Freedom hinges on the concept that people have the right to rule themselves and must consent to be governed. We cannot be free while being subjects of a king.
2) Freedom is only sustained when free people learn from their mistakes and those of other civilizations.
3) Freedom is voluntary associations, voluntary monetary exchanges and voluntary legal interactions.
4) People have the unalienable rights of life, liberty and property. We are only as secure as our life, liberty and property rights.
5) We are all created equal and have equal opportunities for both success and failure. It is not possible to be free when governments mandate everyone have equal possessions.
6) Freedom is only possible when governments are prevented from being abusive. The Constitution was written to limit the power of government.
7) Freedom is only in a society that writes laws and has a written rule of law.
8) Because of the effect upon all of our society, we are only as free as our markets are free. When the markets are manipulated for political advantage, there is no freedom.
9) Finally, a society cannot be free when one generation’s debts are put upon later generations.
We’ve lost some freedoms
We have lost some of our freedoms because we are not good at history. Over time political leaders have made small changes resulting cumulatively in eradicating many freedoms. Ultimately, we, the people, have been negligent in protecting our freedoms.
A similarity between 1776 and now is that during the American Revolution 25 percent of the people in the American colonies were actively for revolution while 25 percent were against it. And half the people in 1776 just wanted to be left alone by both sides.
In the last few presidential elections 25 percent voted Democrat, 25 percent voted Republican and half did not register to vote or, if registered, did not vote. For all of our talk about leaders who took our nation from a freedom standard, the real culprits are the people who blindly let freedom slip away without a shout or even a whimper.
While we have more freedom now than 1776, for how long? To have freedom we must value freedom above all else. Like in 1776 we can only keep the freedoms for which we are willing to fight.
Oliver Wendell Homes wrote, “A hundred years after we are gone and forgotten, those who never heard of us will be living with the results of our actions.”
Our ancestors made a country based on freedom for all for all time. That glimmer spread throughout the world. I thank God for those people and for my freedom.
Swickard is a weekly columnist for this site. You can reach him at michael@swickard.com.