Yesterday, Facebook reminded me of a post I made on this date five years ago. Given the state of the world today, with COVID-related government shutdowns of the whole economy and unprecedented assertions of power by governors and other government officials across our nation, I thought it was a timely message worth repeating.
Please note that by posting this caution about unleashing the restrictions on government action, I am in no way intending to diminish the seriousness of the COVID-19 virus, nor is it my intent to minimize the loss and suffering of those who have been affected by this illness. Rather, my purpose is to have us consider the reasons we have limitations on government action in the first place, and what is likely to happen once we remove those limitations.
I know I am in the minority here in my hometown, where people seem to clamor for a government solution to every problem under the sun, but it is my hope that these words might at least prompt some thinking from those who reflexively call for more government in every circumstance.
Here it is:
Throughout human history, the governed have almost always been at the complete mercy of the government. Whether a warlord, a king, or a dictator, there has hardly ever in history been any real check on the power of those in charge to control the lives of the governed.
It has only been in the last several hundred years that a school of thought has emerged which believes that individuals, rather than the State, are endowed with certain rights, and that the power of the government is derived from the people, and can, and rightly should be limited.
This experiment in liberty and respect for the individual – for the governed – has resulted in an explosion of freedom, creative thought and innovation never before seen in human history. Sadly, out of fear, insecurity, ignorance, or perhaps, for some, a more sinister motive, many people are calling for an end to this era of limited government, and advocating a wholesale disregard of the charter documents which created our government and which strictly limit its authority to act.
If these people have their way – and they are many – this amazing era of individual liberty, of freedom, creativity and innovation, will rapidly come to an end. It will be replaced with the default state of human civilizations, the arbitrary and absolute rule of the few over the many. Some will claim to be surprised by such an outcome, but the writing is on the wall. There is a very thin line between our liberty and despotism. Our freedoms, God-given and earned with the blood of our forefathers, will not be easily regained once sacrificed.
Perhaps we should think twice before we throw away our liberty and unshackle the government from the limitations of the Constitution.