Liberty in the Coronavirus Age

Ok friends. As you all know, I do teach college classes and right now I am in major crunch time because of finals. Meaning less time to devote to The Liberty Belle—at least for two or three weeks.

As a result, I’m going to be posting what I like to call “Mini-posts” for the next few weeks. We can call them the Finals Week Series.

Just recently, I posted some thoughts on Facebook about liberty in the coronavirus era. There are a few more points I feel are important to make, and will take this post today to do so.

I wrote:

“One cannot say it too often: there is nothing more prolific in marvels than the art of being free; but there is nothing harder than the apprenticeship of freedom.”

Humor me as I share a few of my thoughts and concerns. I believe Tocqueville’s quote about liberty is one of the most profound and beautiful quotes I’ve ever read. We’ve been incredibly blessed in this nation to not only have freedom but know how to use it. Most countries, when finally liberated, quickly fall back into tyranny because they cannot learn freedom. They have not handled such a precious commodity before and thus cannot survive as free men and women…they need government to tell them what to do because that is all they’ve known. They don’t know how to live independently, on their own, free. Friends, liberty is a priceless treasure. It is a gem. And it is truly an art to be free. I’m afraid that, in the midst of fear, we’re losing sight of how rare and how valuable liberty truly is.

Will we ever be free to go to a park again? Go out to dinner again? Buy “non-essential” materials again? At this point, the government is able to direct us on all of these choices, and we’re willing to allow it because of fear. I understand wisdom. I understand caution. But at some point, we’re going to have to live. Liberty is a risk. Liberty requires work. Liberty requires education. Liberty is not free. But it seems that many Americans may very well be happy with never being truly free again. They may find that they’d rather have government direct their lives if government is willing to support their lives.

Friends, I always knew that for liberty to be extinguished in America it’d have to be in the guise of the public good…and I’m beginning to wonder if such a thing is now happening. I am questioning everything now. What is truly happening? Why do our governments seem so intent on keeping this shut down going? Do they really care about our well beings or do they simply love the amount of control they now enjoy? Why is it now the trendy thing to “stay home”? Why are there commercials normalizing the coronavirus? Is it now somehow “cool” to live like this? Do we want this to continue for months and months? Will we all stay 6 feet apart after things “open” up? Will we close down every flu season from now on? Do “we” (Americans and government) even want to go back to life as it once was?

I’m beginning to believe the answer to this is no. It is now within the politicians better interest to keep all Americans dependent upon them because doing so means they have all the power and all the control. Since WHEN have Americans been OK with that? If the majority of Americans are legitimately OK with it, I fear we’ve truly lost America’s most precious commodity—liberty. I sincerely hope I’m wrong.

My Response To Me

I wrote this Facebook post a few days back. I’ve been struggling as I watch what’s going on in America. On one hand, I don’t want to discount real sickness and real death; on the other, I don’t want to discount the real aspects of this whole debacle that are just not adding up. I love America. I love liberty. I love being an American. And I love the spirit, the fight, and the art of freedom that Americans have developed over our 250 years of existence.

And that’s the thing isn’t it? America was not built in a day. Who America is today is because of who she was yesterday, a decade ago, a century ago, two centuries ago. We are reaping the benefits of what our forefathers worked, built, and died for. American success today is not our own, but the gift, the blessing of those who have gone before us.

And yet, we treat the luxury of America today, the luxury of liberty today, as if it’s always been there, and as if it always will be there. We act as if our liberty, and preserving this great country, requires no work, no vigilance, no passion, and no fight to keep it.

And then, something like the coronavirus comes along and suddenly we’re faced with the potential of losing it all.

I think what concerns me the most is this: There are Americans who, upon seeing how the government has paid them money, upon getting a taste of economic reliance upon the government, will assume that the government can continue to support them in such a way. And, as humanity is generally prone to laziness, these same people will not want life to go back to less reliance on government.

Of course, their assumption is that the government can continue to give payouts with no repercussions—-not ever stopping to realize that the fact that the government/the nation is in the economic position to provide such economic support in the short term is the direct result of all that America has fought for and built up over 250 years. Our ancestors and the liberty they fought to protect and foster are responsible for such a providential position.

And such a payout, such reliance on government, is dreadfully unsustainable and should it continue, will plunge this great country into the mire of socialism, poverty, and slavery.

Let’s not forget who we are. But let’s also not forget who we were.

We don’t stand here today without those who stood here before us. Let’s not waste the gift we’ve been given.

Fellow Americans, let’s make our forefathers proud and fight to keep what we never earned in the first place.

The Liberty Belle