“Liberty.” A simple word for what many people (those who think much about it at all, that is) find to be a very complex and multifaceted philosophical and social concept. Liberty, as a concept, has been dissected, discussed and debated for centuries upon centuries. Our modern day awareness and understanding of the term runs the gamut from one as simplistic as a vague idea of where the Statue of Liberty is located and why it is there, to ideas as convoluted, confusing and fairly recent as those of individual and social anarchism.
“Liberty”, however, is an ancient human concept, one that has its roots in 24th century BC Sumeria and 17th century BC Babylonia.
But don’t worry; I promise I wont ask “Sherman” to set the “Way-back Machine” to deliver us far enough into the past so that we might study Urukagina or Hammurabi up close. While some of us, myself included, could happily spend years roaming about in such musty intellectual ruins, the rest of us aren’t quite that committed (my lovely wife would say “that twisted”.)
For the purposes of this column we thankfully needn’t peer quite so far into history to find the perspective that we need. Perspective, however, is most assuredly needed.
“Liberty”, as perceived by President Thomas Jefferson, is that Creator-endowed condition within which all individuals have a right to live freely and to determine their own destiny with minimal interference by, or restraint from, government.
I submit that we, the very “People” referred to in our Declaration of Independence, have surely lost touch with this concept of “liberty” especially as it applies to our rights and, more importantly, our responsibilities as residents of Long Beach and as citizens of this greatest of nations.
It’s this gradual loss of an awareness of and appreciation for our liberty to which, I believe, every single public policy challenge we currently face can be directly tied. From skyrocketing federal deficits to repeated and continuous Long Beach budget shortfalls. From our overly-porous national borders to the ongoing presence of the tragic homeless that camp-out nightly in the nooks and crannies of Long Beach’s Civic Center and beneath its freeway overpasses.
If it’s proof you seek then its proof I shall offer.
When over 20% of qualified Long Beach electors (registered voters) are unable to muster the collective will to cast a vote on important ballot measures during a recent local election, we have lost an awareness of and appreciation for our liberty.
When so many who do vote, do so based primarily (and sometimes exclusively) upon a candidate’s physical appearance, their public speaking skills or the shallow sound bytes they are force-fed by political campaigns, we have lost an awareness of and appreciation for our liberty.
When we routinely fail in our responsibility to make our wishes clear to those we elect and appoint to represent us, then become surprised when they begin to operate our city as they choose, rather than as we desire, we have lost an awareness of and appreciation for our liberty.
When we only sporadically remember our responsibility to monitor our government representatives closely or to hold them accountable to us and almost never demonstrate the will to impose reasonable consequences upon them for their various failures in serving us, we have lost an awareness of and appreciation for our liberty.
Are you sensing a theme here?
There are many such proofs of the gradual and continual erosion of our awareness of and appreciation for our liberty. They are readily seen all around us on a daily basis, from the trash and graffiti relentlessly accumulating in our own Long Beach neighborhoods to the various and sundry crises de jour in our Nation.
I submit that if we, the People…of Long Beach, of California and of the United States, would simply begin to remember the importance and the responsibility of our liberty…that condition within which we live as an independent and self-governed people in a free and civil society…and, in remembering, begin to act accordingly, then so many public policy challenges we currently face could be averted and those that cannot be avoided could be far more handily dealt with.
Thus I humbly submit that it is our liberty, and our awareness of and appreciation of it, that are the keys to a productive, fair, clean, efficient, culturally rich and thriving society. As previously mentioned, our liberty is Creator-endowed. The Founders believed, as do I, that our liberty was a very great gift to us. But it is a gift we can (and do) most certainly squander and misuse. It is a gift we can (and do) fail to protect and defend at every opportunity. It is a gift that comes with it some extremely important responsibilities, but it is a gift to us nonetheless.
Our liberty is ours, my friends, and it is likewise ours to lose.
Therefore, good readers, it’s time to get back to the basics of self-government. It’s time to stop squandering and misusing and failing to protect and to defend and to meet the responsibilities of our liberty.
It’s time to start remembering our liberty and more fully appreciating it…
And in remembering, it’s time, finally, for us to begin to behave accordingly.
I very much welcome your questions and your comments.