A SHORT ESSAY ON THE NATURE OF FREEDOM AND ITS OBLIGATIONS RETURN TO HOME PAGE
A fundamental characteristic of Conservative thinking is the instinct of self examination. Conservatives recognize that it is a tendency of human nature to wander “off message”, and that there is a subconscious tendency to do so under the pressures of competing ideas. So it is important for Conservatives to recognize the guardrails of moral systems of thought, and to monitor the calibration of their own analysis in the heat of intellectual battle. In a Presidential election year (2004) of particularly high stress, it behooves us to make sure that we are engaged in the right battles for the right reasons, and not allow ourselves to be distracted by nonsense. We have young men and women making huge sacrifices on the battlefield, and as it has been over the years, we owe them the respect of the deepest consideration of our responsibilities as American voters.
The essence of the American Founding, summarized so eloquently in the Declaration of Independence, was the principle that just government was a function of the will of the people, under God. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created (morally) equal, that they are endowed by their (Judeo-Christian, but, on balance, from the perspective of the Reformation) Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness (generally understood at the time to refer to the fruits of their own labor, i.e. private property) ---That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed,”---.
It is essential to understand, and respect, the intellectual and social context of the times. The moral inconsistencies of slavery bubbled just below the surface, the path to resolution unclearly understood, but established. The issue of slavery, in the literal sense, was eventually resolved, although the way it was resolved was accomplished at the expense of some precious founding principles now long since lost, and not unrelated to the competing political philosophies that evolved over subsequent years. As it has come to pass we have witnessed in the course of less than 200 years the complete reversal of a Constitution to constrain government on behalf of the people into a Constitution to constrain people on behalf of the government. It is not my purpose here to get into the details of this metamorphosis; that is the issue of this entire website. It is my purpose here to call attention to the fact that it is the unique function of Conservatives in America to defend, and, to the extent possible, re-capture the original message of the American Revolution, a mission for Conservatives not without irony.
So what is freedom really all about? Having accomplished our original independence, and in the years since expended so much treasure and blood in its defense, what is our freedom really all about? In the contemporary context, as Conservatives see it, we come to the great divide between Conservatives on the one hand and Libertarians (who pretend to be Conservatives by the faux separation of economic and “social” issues) and modern Liberals (neo-marxists) on the other hand. Conservatives, of the real variety, contend that the completion of freedom is to be found in the context of a properly ordered theological conscience. You can choose to be satisfied with material indulgence, perversion and self-centeredness, or you can choose to measure yourself against a larger timeless mystery. In the fullest sense of freedom, that is the choice to be made. Only America, historically, has offered this opportunity to those who have come to our shores in peace. A certain strand of the “Enlightenment”, first manifested concretely in the French Revolution, followed by Marxism, has led us to a point where we have very nearly rejected the God who inspired our Founding, and that is the central issue today that true Conservatives bring forward. Each of us must look inward in self-examination. The central domestic challenge to America today, and its historic message of freedom, is the assault on Christians and Christianity. Unrecognized by many, this has been going on for many years. Our opponents rightly realize that recognition and acceptance of a Devine Creator is inconsistent with their preference for the elevation of mankind itself to the status of a deity. Hatred, of which we are so often accused, in fact finds its source in the minds of those who are self consumed with atheism, which they can only accomplish with our destruction. It is not the purpose of Conservatives to tell others what to think. It is the purpose of Conservatives to ensure the preservation of freedom, historically understood, and encourage an understanding of freedom’s real promise. As men, we can be defeated. As children of God, we have nothing to fear. That knowledge is what drives the hatred of the political left; the smartest of them know that in the end they cannot win.
Particularly in this political season, all of this will be on full display. Conservatives with a sense of grace have the advantage of knowing that, in the end, they have already won the only election that matters. JES 07/18/04