I titled the last blog "Heaven help us." The thing is, though, I'm not terribly religious. I do have a definite set of principles and beliefs that I live by; they just aren't part of any organized religion.
If you're an American, or want to live free, you absolutely require a religion or a philosophy because you've got to be able to make up your own mind about what's good for you, what's wrong, what's fair in your dealings with other people, and all of that. You've got to do this for yourself, or you end up giving up your own mind, your own talents, and your own future, to whomever or whatever you allow to think for you and make decisions for you. In essence, you become their slave.
The USA was set up so that the government would NOT be the ultimate moral authority in society. The phrase the Founding Fathers used over and over again was that this government would allow people to "Live by their own lights."
At the time of the American Revolution, the colonies already were occupied by a jumble of different religious groups. Some colonies had been founded by the British monarchs, and in those colonies, residents were compelled by law to pay a tax to support Evangelical ministers -- the king's religion. Non-Evangelicals didn't like this at all.
In addition, the 13 original colonies didn't have much inter-communication with each other. Trade and other interaction was more often between, say Massachusetts colony and the King, or South Carolina colony and the King, etc. Sam Adams -- a relative of the now more famous John Adams -- played a key role in establishing the Committees of Correspondence among the colonies. And mostly what they discussed were their grievances against the King and Parliament. This exchange of correspondence bound the colonies in common cause and eventually evolved into the Continental Congress.
Anyway, freedom of religion and free speech were two key elements in bringing about the American Revolution. Sam Adams and everyone else clearly understood all this, and to the credit of the Founding Fathers, they enshrined the lessons they learned in the First Amendment of the US Constitution:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."
Don't you love those guys? They not only managed to successfully rebel against what was one of the world's greatest powers, but they passed along to later generations the tools to make their own rebellions. They believed absolutely in the idea of individual liberty. I wish they were still around.
The most important underlying principle behind the First Amendment is that it guarantees that all kinds of information is available to everyone. Sounds pretty damn simple-minded and silly, huh?
No. Information is what each individual needs to form a concept of the world around them and to make reasonable and responsible decisions about it for themselves.
In a free country, every citizen needs to do this for him or herself, or there is no freedom. We each must be our own authority. The Founding Fathers made the government subordinate to every citizen's honest commitment and interpretation of righteousness and virtue. That is precisely what makes us free.
In the USA, the government doesn't have the final say on what's right or wrong. We all decide these things for ourselves, either by consulting our religious leaders or philosophical gurus, or whomever. But the decisions are up to us. We live by our own lights.
Are you willing to give this up for a job that might last a year or two? Or to get out of paying your mortgage? Or maybe just because you're lazy and don't want to have to think too much. Maybe you're just scared that you might make a mistake. So, everyone makes mistakes, and you learn a whole lot more from failure than from success.
And funny how this idea caught on all around the world. You can assess the power of it even in the negative reactions to it. Like, I'd be a little suspcious of religious leaders who are jealous of individual freedom, as they are in some nations (or terrorist states) that shall remain nameless.
But now citizens of the USA seem pretty interested in giving up this capacity to live by their own lights in favor of food stamps, the promise of security, and other forms of government aid.
Just kill me, OK. It would be a little less painful than watching the spectacle of trading liberty for this specious promise of security.
Today is Quote Day. Another one that's been attributed to Ben Franklin:
"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."
Amen to that.
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