Happy Independence Day 2017

July 4, 2017 by David Dubrow 2 Comments

It’s the 4th of July, AKA First Brexit, AKA Independence Day!

While we Americans celebrate our independence from King George’s tyranny and the founding of the greatest nation on Earth, consider this question:

What is liberty?

Think about it and remember that any definition of a term can’t include the term in the definition. So you can’t define liberty as freedom, or use the word freedom or any of its synonyms in your answer.

So, what is it?

Some time ago, Mark Levin asked this question on his radio program, and while I didn’t listen to his answer (if he gave it), it did provide some food for thought. As best as I can figure out, liberty is the ability to exercise the God-given/natural rights we were all born with as human beings. The U.S. Constitution, as incredible and important a document as it is, doesn’t grant these rights. Only God can. The Constitution enshrines them. It describes and lists them, particularly in the first ten Amendments to the Constitution, also known as The Bill of Rights.

The U.S. government doesn’t grant these rights, either. No matter where you live you were born with natural rights. All the government can do is either protect these rights or limit them. Your liberty is very much a zero-sum proposition: the more liberty taken from you, either as a result of over-regulation by hostile government entities or the curtailing of your rights by ever-more restrictive laws, the less you have overall. America’s success as a nation isn’t coincidental. It’s this acknowledgment of the importance of personal freedom and where it comes from that makes us great.

Happy 4th, and God bless.

Comments

David Angsten says

July 4, 2017 at 11:09 am

Thank you for the reminder, Dave — Happy 4th!

Reply
- David Dubrow says
  
  July 4, 2017 at 11:41 am
  
  Happy 4th, David!
  
  Reply

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