Have you ever pondered about “Liberty”? The word is tossed around with her brother “Freedom” and their father “Sovereignty”. But what do those words represent?

You, as an individual, are unique. Your hopes, wants, desires, wisdom, and other physical and mental traits are one of a kind. There certainly may be similarities with you and others on many levels, but ultimately there is only one of you. You have the inherent right to be you and experience your existence to the fullest should you desire to do so, provided that you hinder none to that same right.

These concepts of free determination are certainly not uniquely American. Our Founding Fathers were blessed with being born in the tail end of the Enlightenment. That meant that, like peers of the age, they had a fantastic desire to grasp what it is like to be human and had a keen understanding of human nature. They studied where systems of government were installed by either the people or by force. They understood how great empires throughout history had come and gone. And they knew that no system of government would ever stand once it had set upon the course of devouring its people to perpetuate itself.

Those wise men came up with a fantastic system to preserve liberty. Parts of it are distinctly British in origin. But some fundamentals of liberty and mutual respect in our Constitution trace their roots back to confederated tribes in the area who existed well before us. To throw off this system of liberty would be a shameful disservice to the Native contribution to who we are as a group of individual peoples on this continent. Our Constitution is a multicultural document. It took the best parts of many systems of government and formed an improved system that enables all people to exercise their Natural Rights.

Government and its original purpose were lost in the egos and greed of men. The only purpose of government is to secure our Natural Rights, to mediate between two individuals or parties when those rights clash, and to provide some minor common good. Even defense was to be left to the people in their town militias. The Army was disbanded except for two regiments after the war.

How did we go from that to one of the greatest perpetual war machines in history? It is not just the plagues of narcissist rulers that is responsible. Our own apathy, to a greater or lesser extent, is partly to blame.

Somebody else must be going to those school board meetings and city hall meetings because I am too busy, and it is not my thing anyway. I hate politics. I do not have the right temperament for it.

Have you ever thought or said something like that? I used to think that way. I used to have miles of excuses as to why I did not go to a school board meeting, city council meeting, or other public meetings. Attending public meetings is a fundamental civic responsibility.

I have seen the stark reality for myself. There are many public meetings where there is no public. Those who have consented to be governed are willfully losing their consent. Sure, you can point fingers at ineffective communication to the public or failure to post agendas, but did you bother to show up and ask them why the agenda is not posted? That is what those meetings are for. For the public to let the elected servants know what needs fixing and what does not. If you are not there, then you are not part of the process. I invite you to be part of the process.

Liberty can be preserved only by patriots who exercise it while stubbornly defending it. Whenever the cries for freedom give way to complacency for having it, those who think they are free soon find that they will bend a knee. It is a cycle of empires throughout all of history. Our ancestors set up a fair system that preserves personal sovereignty and fosters mutual respect and cooperation between peoples. There are those who take advantage of the good will of our people, to subjugate and enslave them. We must resist them.

Again, the question remains, what is freedom? Is it a system where people have a common moral code that establishes mutual respect and boundaries that don’t hinder liberty? The strong bastion of morality in our nation has been deteriorating for well over a hundred years. The roaring twenties of last century have nothing on the debauchery of today. Our liberty has withered in conjunction with our morality.

There was a spark of hope during the second world war when the hearts of the people once again turned to the good of the nation. The cost of liberty helped to humble a generation. Many hearts were broken during the war that needed mending. That generation wanted their children to grow up with everything they ever wanted. For the most part they had that and more. This point will be known in history as the point where the people of the United States started the pivot from the selfless to the selfish mentality. Since then, there has been decades of debauchery and each generation has declined in morality. This has corresponded in the allowance of government mandated morality.

A false solution that only punishes and never solves. Prostitution laws have never stopped the oldest trade in human history and gun laws have never prevented criminals from getting access to the firearms they need.

There is hope in the youngest generations. They see their parents swimming in self obsession, immorality, fear, and complete subjugation. They want to make up their own mind. They seem to want to be free.

What about you? Do you want to be free? Have you figured out what freedom is yet? It is not a simple thing like the ability to sit at home and do nothing like many seem to think.

Six years ago, I was retired. I lived on the beach and went to sleep every night with the Pacific Ocean in my ear. Was I happy? No, I was miserable. I gave all that up. I bought a small home that is older than I am and needs lots of work. It sits on enough land for me to raise farm animals and have a healthy garden. I plant fruit trees and timber almost every year. I now live more rural than when I was raised.

The garden started as rocks with a little bit of dirt. We hauled in plenty of dirt and manure over the years and produced our own compost as well. It has been a labor of love and we have even lost an entire harvest as a learning lesson along the way.

That is what freedom is. The ability to say, “No, I am not done with this life. My best years are ahead of me and I am going to take charge of my own life and become as self-sufficient as I can.”

You have the freedom right now to start over no matter your station or disabilities. You can purchase a piece of land and make a homestead out of it and create something out of nothing.

Now, you can’t do that everywhere in America anymore. And that is our own fault. But you can still build the American dream out of nothing but a scrap of land if you seek it. Then, you can truly experience the concept of personal sovereignty.

Can you experience freedom without owning land? Sure, you can also experience music without going to a concert. But once you experience the real deal you understand it on a whole new level, and anything less is somehow less satisfying. By striving to be self-sufficient in our family’s food production, I have learned that you can’t have liberty without responsibility. That is what freedom means to me.

WJT – Originally published in ThePamphlet.net