You hear "freedom isn't free" and typically that's a reference to the fact that the freedoms we enjoy in this country came and continues to come from the sacrifices of those who put themselves in harms way to protect our freedoms, namely the military. But I think as a nation we've forgotten that the phrase "freedom isn't free" isn't just about military sacrifice but also about our personal responsibilities as citizens of this country.
As I'm fond of saying, "Authority (freedom) and responsibility, you can't have one without the other." We've all had that run-in with an obnoxious person who bellows, "You can't tell me what to do. I'm an American and it's my Constitutional right to do (fill in the blank)." Let's forget the fact that the Constitution doesn't say we can blast our stereos all hours of the night or that we can take up two parking spaces at the grocery store. But do we have the freedom (authority) to do whatever we want? Can we go into a crowded theater and yell "FIRE!" Are we free to drive as fast as we want regardless of the traffic? Of course not. Many of you will say, "we have laws against such things." And you're right, we do. But have you ever thought to yourself, "why do we need laws telling us how to behave?" Why indeed.
It's understood that although they were very specific about freedom of faith, our founding fathers formulated our Constitution and subsequent laws under a Judeo-Christian ethic. It's a universal standard, not established by any one person or party, but by a greater objective truth. Over time there have been numerous additions to our laws that govern behavior, whether it's related to how we conduct business or how we conduct ourselves in our neighborhoods. These laws aren't arbitrary. They all stem from an incident where one person's notion of personal freedom comes in direct conflict with the intent of the existing laws. You can trace the genealogy of the ordinance "Inoperable vehicles are not authorized to be parked along neighborhood streets" to the command, "Love your neighbor as yourself". When you think about it, each law that follows the command to "love your neighbor as yourself" is a response to an action by a person who refused to embrace the intent of the original command.
But it says a lot about us when we look at the laws not in terms of how we should fulfill them but rather how we can get around them. The Original Laws, as I call them, were put in place to help us see how important it is to put our faith and our neighbors before ourselves. Unfortunately in today's culture it's quite the opposite. Today we look at laws not as a means of uniting us to our communities and country but rather as a vehicle to serve ourselves. We believe that anything that is not specifically forbidden is therefore allowed. Far too often we hear people say, "there's no law telling me I can't do that." So when our Constitution grants us freedom of speech without qualifying the word "speech" does that mean all speech? Does that include knowingly spreading lies or hate filled rhetoric? Most all of us know deep in our hearts that lying and expressing hate speech is wrong, but are we at the point where we need to document that? Regardless of where you fall in politics, the unfortunate truth is that these last four years have shown us there is no restriction and no accountability to what someone can say. The unfortunate truth is that many are enjoying the freedoms of speaking their minds but willfully turning their backs on the responsibility they have for accepting the consequences of their words and actions.
Today we are seeing individuals being removed from social media for willfully spreading lies and hate speech. People are protesting about the infringement upon our rights to free speech and expression that have lawyers running circles trying to determine the legalities of these actions with no clear path forward. Because of our unwillingness to live according to the spirit of our laws, what I suspect we'll see is the emergence of new laws that will govern what and how we can express ourselves which is nothing what our founding fathers had intended. I hear people complain about government over-reach and the violations against our personal liberties. We need to understand that the erosion of our personal freedoms in this country is a direct consequence of our own abuses of them, not the workings of some mythical satanic cabal. The more laws we need to put on the books to govern our behaviors, the more our freedoms will erode away.
We are not sovereigns but rather stewards of freedom.
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