Freedom is A Right - Stars and Stripes A Responsiblity

They never leave room for the possibility of self-error.  Pundits, commentators, bloviators all.  And those on the sidelines seem to be screaming for a simpler time, a less restrictive one, one when men stood back-to-back, walked ten paces, and turned to face each other, each intent on taking from the other's wife her husband and from his children their father.

We've walked a million miles since then.  But we lost our pace.  We stopped to rest on a perceived perch of contemporary thought.  We stopped to enjoy our imagined excellence.  We've lingered outside courtrooms to spit in the face of a social contract - one once bound in a collective embrace and still grounded in a belief that inside each of us shines the spark of the Creator. 

In an age in which the private affairs of men often consumes the nation's focus, more so than the economic and social realities facing it  - the lack of a balanced budget, a comprehensive healthcare bill that exceeds Congress' regulatory authority under the Commerce Clause - a pervasive lack of personal responsibility - and unconstitutional infringements on individual freedoms, remembering our genesis is critical.  Remembering that we are but dust, that our time on this earth is limited, and that we have a duty to forge a better life for our offspring, requires a more judicious dealing and a return to the framework upon which our Republic was built. 

It was only 220 years ago, on December 15, 1791, that the Bill of Rights was ratified.  These 10 Amendments to our Constitution were not, as Justice Brennan opined, a product of legislative invention, rather a declaration of divinely ordained liberties. They represented a united belief in immutable freedoms, i.e. the right to worship freely, to assemble peaceably, and to speak (relatively) unreservedly (the freedom of speech, contrary to popular belief, not being absolute).

Our nation's founding fathers understood man's intrinsic vulnerability and tendency toward self-preservation - hence the right to keep and bear arms. They believed that a person's home should be a place of impregnable refuge - hence the owner's ability in times of peace to decide who could be quartered there. And, the Founding Fathers believed, individual freedom was a birthright - hence the proscription against unreasonable searches and seizures, being tried twice for the same offense, and being deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.

For the founding fathers, the rights to a speedy and public trial and to protection from cruel and unusual punishment were heavenly endowments. They were antecedent rights recognized by men who believed in their existence absent any social contract. But sagacity and foresight told our founding fathers that codification was essential to forestall any infringement upon those rights.

Their conviction permeates every American flag - liberty's banner - freedom's icon in radiant red, unadulterated white and impenetrable blue.  But our stars and stripes have met the challenges of human frailty.  We are too readily swayed by predilection and preconception, by entitlement and greed, color and creed.  We're ethnocentric xenophobes with unlimited patience for those who kill in the name of God and no tolerance for law-abiding jurors whose verdict is inconsistent with our uninformed judgment.  We've forgotten that freedom is more than a right.  It is a responsibility - and one that should never be wielded in ignorance.

It seems we've a long way to travel on wisdom's journey.  But enlightenment waits patiently - trillions of light years in the distance.  We are a compassionate, introspective, resilient people with a tremendous capacity for growth.  We need to pick up the pace, however, if we want to secure a healthier and more hopeful future for our children - and for theirs.

Resources

John Locke, The Second Treatise of Civil Government 1690:
constitution.org/jl/2ndtreat.htm

John Locke, Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Book 2, Chapter 21, Section 51
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Locke#Influence

Text of Declaration of Independence:
earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/freedom/doi/text.html

nccs.net/index.html

hnn.us/articles/46460.html

freeonlineresearchpapers.com/philosophical-john-locke-view-religious-tolerance

accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-143832_ITM

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