Liberty!
I know this location is not the one I normally write regarding spiritual or religious things. This is a definite crossover post, and will not be partisan. I promise.
When the signers of the Declaration of Independence wrote that all men are endowed by their creator with certain, unalienable rights, this, I take literally, and in fact, the doctrine of my faith is very clear on this. The greatest gift to us from God, is our agency, or our ability to choose. We were given this gift to choose between good and evil and to learn to choose good. This gift is so great, that our Father in Heaven willingly offered His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for our sins, that we can live with Him again. The Founders were well read, and I think that they understood this.
So, after that religious lesson, what does it have to do with politics?
To be free is more than being able to do whatever you want. It is to be secure in your property, and your person. Government cannot give those rights. It can only take them away. Those skeptical of a strong central government insisted on a list of enumerated individual rights, and the Bill of Rights was passed soon after. They won't be enumerated here, They are known. Not understood, but known.
For over 200 years, this has been the creed of this nation. The promise was made universal after the Civil War. And when women suffrage was made law by the 19th Amendment.
To give an example, I use a few classics. My right to swing my fist ends right before touching your face. I have a right to speak, but cannot force anyone to listen. I should be free to practice my religious beliefs, but should not be free to force anyone else to practice them.
A free society has laws. I know that sounds contradictory, but bear with me. These laws should be few, and well defined. For example, burglary, or robbery. Taking one's property is contrary to freedom. A justice system would truly be blind to the crime. Did you steal? Yes. Guilty. In fact, in Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, the only government structure in Mulligan's Valley was the few courts that they had to ensure security in their freedom. No bathroom laws, but also no discrimination laws. They felt that people could do business with whom they wished, or not. That is the essence of freedom.
If I am stupid enough to say my bar is for men only, then not only have I barred half of the population from doing business with me, but also a good percentage of the other half, Particularly those that are married. Not a good business model.
Compare that to the land of the free currently. 74,000 pages of tax code. Laws for every little thing. I would venture a guess that most probably, have broken this law, or that one, without even knowing. That is not freedom. And because there is no way to know the laws, then the selective enforcement is intentionally designed to coerce behavior. We won't go prosecute people in the IRS for deliberately releasing confidential information, but we will go after someone for donating too much money to a candidate that was not the candidate favored by the administration. COERCED BEHAVIOR!
When there is a labyrinth of a legal code, then we are not free. We are slaves.
When the signers of the Declaration of Independence wrote that all men are endowed by their creator with certain, unalienable rights, this, I take literally, and in fact, the doctrine of my faith is very clear on this. The greatest gift to us from God, is our agency, or our ability to choose. We were given this gift to choose between good and evil and to learn to choose good. This gift is so great, that our Father in Heaven willingly offered His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for our sins, that we can live with Him again. The Founders were well read, and I think that they understood this.
So, after that religious lesson, what does it have to do with politics?
To be free is more than being able to do whatever you want. It is to be secure in your property, and your person. Government cannot give those rights. It can only take them away. Those skeptical of a strong central government insisted on a list of enumerated individual rights, and the Bill of Rights was passed soon after. They won't be enumerated here, They are known. Not understood, but known.
For over 200 years, this has been the creed of this nation. The promise was made universal after the Civil War. And when women suffrage was made law by the 19th Amendment.
To give an example, I use a few classics. My right to swing my fist ends right before touching your face. I have a right to speak, but cannot force anyone to listen. I should be free to practice my religious beliefs, but should not be free to force anyone else to practice them.
A free society has laws. I know that sounds contradictory, but bear with me. These laws should be few, and well defined. For example, burglary, or robbery. Taking one's property is contrary to freedom. A justice system would truly be blind to the crime. Did you steal? Yes. Guilty. In fact, in Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, the only government structure in Mulligan's Valley was the few courts that they had to ensure security in their freedom. No bathroom laws, but also no discrimination laws. They felt that people could do business with whom they wished, or not. That is the essence of freedom.
If I am stupid enough to say my bar is for men only, then not only have I barred half of the population from doing business with me, but also a good percentage of the other half, Particularly those that are married. Not a good business model.
Compare that to the land of the free currently. 74,000 pages of tax code. Laws for every little thing. I would venture a guess that most probably, have broken this law, or that one, without even knowing. That is not freedom. And because there is no way to know the laws, then the selective enforcement is intentionally designed to coerce behavior. We won't go prosecute people in the IRS for deliberately releasing confidential information, but we will go after someone for donating too much money to a candidate that was not the candidate favored by the administration. COERCED BEHAVIOR!
When there is a labyrinth of a legal code, then we are not free. We are slaves.
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