lib·er·ty noun ˈli-bər-tē
: the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one’s way of life, behavior, or political views.
– Oxford Dictionary
The foundation, the cornerstone, the very bedrock of our beloved U.S.A is Liberty. Not the idea of liberty, not the principle of Liberty, but the daily living of ones life free from oppressive restrictions of others. Liberty is the founding principle of the political system United States. Within the idea of libery, it is understood there are necessary restrictions needed to be placed upon individuals for a functional society to form. People should be restrained from killing other people. Stealing should be condemned. In our modern society the vast majority of people understand and agree to these underlying restrictions on liberty as necessary, however unnecessary restrictions to liberty should be stopped at all costs.
Right now members of government are working to massively and *unnecessarily* impede on the liberties of the everyday American, with the most blatant program being the mandated healthcare law.
Thomas Jefferson, a founding father of the United States government, had this to say regarding government, “The purpose of government is to enable the people of a nation to live in safety and happiness. Government exists for the interests of the governed, not for the governors.””
Many would argue that, in our current situation, the healcare mandate is motivated to enable people to live in happiness. While this is partially true, as some would benefit, it comes at the cost of restricting the liberty of an entire nation for a myopic goal. To what end? To further a broken system? To stuff the pockets of large healthcare providers, while still implementing a system that does more to transfer wealth than actually heal? To place near unsurmountable barriers on smaller medical clinics forcing them to align with mega-healthcare providers? No, this is not an end that helps people. This is an end that unnecessarily limits the freedom of small business and individuals. While Thomas Jefferson was a supporter of enabling happiness, it was never at the expense of liberty.
“I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.” ― Thomas Jefferson
It is a travesty that the current population of America is at all time low in talking about liberty. According to the Google graph at the beginning of this post, we’ve been on a downhill slope since the 1920’s…but perhaps there’s hope — there has been a strong and consistent trend of Liberty in recent years that’s building momentum.