Are we free?

Not long ago, the Iowa Libertarian Party shared this great cartoon:

This is, of course, a lot more taxes and regulations and government stupidity and meddling (the Fed!) that could be shown. But as we near the celebration of Independence Day (and the day before the Continental Congress actually DID approve the Declaration and thus Independece), it is worth looking back 249 years to ask, are we free? Did the Founding Fathers achieve their goals? Do those goals remain accomplished in 2025?

Readers will not be surprised at our answers.

Are we free? No, absolutely not. Either in absolute terms or even in relative terms. Today, we suffer under the micro-management of multiple levels of government that the Founders never imagined while they were alive. And no doubt observe with frustration as they observe us from eternity.

Most readers, and most lovers of liberty, will readily admit that in absolute terms, no American enjoys the liberties that the citizens of the Thirteen original States took for granted. Even given the tremendous advantages that two and a half centuries of advances in science and engineering have given us.

Now, relative to the rest of the world? Well, we are certainly much more free than say, the people of China, of North Korea, of the Muslim world, and dozens of nations in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. And even of much of Europe. And in certain very carefully defined and fenced areas, we have more liberty than some other nations: the Swiss, Norway, Australia, and New Zealand, and even in some ways Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, and even Canada. Of course, some of the most precious and important liberties are gone for the people of those countries: the right to keep and bear arms, for example. And the right to speak out our personal opinion on certain subjects (such as marriage, sexual orientation, and a few other things).

But overall? There are parts of the world, and some nations, where the people living there enjoy significantly more liberty than Americans in any of our fifty States. And some of our States are as tyrannical as many foreign nations. Examples? California. New York. Massachusetts. Washington.

And because of the incredible, overwhelming power of the FedGov, even our “Free States” (Florida, Texas, and a few others) and our less-governed but less-notable States (like Wyoming, South Dakota, and Montana) have less than the amount of desired liberty. Both personal and economic.

Did the Founding Fathers fail? We don’t think so. But their victory did not last. It was not just the adoption of the Constitution (as Ken Royce has so ably pointed out), or the actions that evil men like Honest Abe, Woody Wilson and the rest were able to implement. It was the failure to continue to whittle away the powers of governments in general. And the insane worship of democracy and believing in the will of the people as a way to prevent tyranny. As well as not teaching the next generations the importance of vigilance, personal responsibility, and being consistent. (Thus, among other things, letting government run education.)

So in 2025 we are left with little choice but to fight. In words, if not always in physical means. To fight not just to prevent further encroachment on liberty, further restrictions on freedom. But to also restore some of the liberty we have allowed to be slipped away from us.

Part of that is something that Rome (and the British) never figured out: how to get rid of the American empire which we supposedly did not want, and do not need. But much of the fight has to be done in our own homes and families: teaching and living the truth of liberty given by God and entrusted to us to use wisely. And in our communities and areas. And States. That is an ongoing battle, of words and deeds. Will we? The choice is ours.

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