Liberty in all its Glory

First, let me define liberty, because it’s been awhile since civics class for a lot of us—some of us never made it that far in school, according to the latest school dropout statistics. Some of you haven’t gotten there yet, and still more could care less.

Liberty, according to pertinent Wikipedia gospel, “is generally considered a concept of political philosophy and identifies the condition in which an individual has the ability to act according to his or her own will.” Other pertinent information about liberty in general: “John Stuart Mill, in his work, On Liberty, was the first to recognize the difference between liberty as the freedom to act and liberty as the absence of coercion.”

In general terms, without my inserting an adjective before the word LIBERTY, there’s a description of the flip-sides of liberty: “Positive liberty is often described as freedom to achieve certain ends, while negative liberty is described as from external coercion.”

Freedom TO and freedom FROM—I wrote about that once in regard to religion, but since deleted it.

While the words freedom, tyranny, and liberty may have fallen on quaint times, smothered by the rampant commercialism of the entire July 4th holiday, they still carry important meaning in our lives today.

We were given voting power and other rights to prevent encroachment on our personal liberty as identified by our forefathers, yet we don’t acknowledge it, don’t use it, or cede it altogether in favor of political agendas. When actually shown the definitions and defining statements above, you can see where many of our personal freedoms have been trampled, continue to be trampled, and where there are future plans for further trampling (if you’ve been keeping up with congressional activity at all—watch C-SPAN once in awhile to see it for yourselves).

We were even given a statue commemorating liberty, but are we really free? Do we really have liberty? What has that statue come to represent over the years?

If you feel you are without liberty, how can you get it back? The answer lies in the voting booth—be aware of issues important to you, be aware of candidates who can and have actually done something in the way of preservation and expansion of liberty, and keep an eye out for possible future contenders. Mark your ballots accordingly, without regard for anyone else or any concerns but your own—for the preservation of YOUR liberties, not the planet’s liberties, not Sudan’s liberties, and not corporate liberties. True freedom and the exercise of liberty begins at home.

You need to become your own activist to protect the rights, freedoms, and liberties that our Founding Fathers deliberated and agonized over, and that colonists went to war to protect. Consider this as you crack open a beer, light the barbecue, toss the Frisbee, and light the fireworks this July 4th holiday—do you really know what you’re celebrating, or is it just another day off work?