Desiring Freedom is Not Selfish, Right Now or Ever

America is a nation premised on freedom. We’re not set up to prioritize safety above all else, whatever the petty tyrants in the bureaucracy or state government might tell you when they try to increase their power. Just read The Federalist Papers if you don’t believe me. That means, of course, that desiring freedom is not selfish, whether we’re perfectly safe anyway or in the midst of a raging pandemic like the Chinese Flu.

That’s not what those pesky and hypocritical tyrants like Governor Whitmer or Cuomo would have you believe, however. They love power trip that comes with forcing citizens to comply with their tyrannical and nonsensical laws, so they’re doing whatever they can to prolong the panic over the Coronavirus and accusing people who try to reopen their small businesses of being “selfish.”

That accusation is ridiculous. Even a basic understanding of American history shows that desiring freedom is not selfish. In fact, it’s patriotic. Do you think George Washington and his troops, as they fought for their freedom and froze and starved at Valley Forge, thought that they were being “anti-social” and “selfish” for standing up for their rights? No, of course not. That would be absurd. They understood that desiring freedom is not selfish.

I’ve generally defined liberty or freedom as both 1) the ability to pursue what you want and to pursue what is beneficial to your own self-interests and 2) the absence of wrongful interference of those pursuits from any outside force including wrongful government interference or unjust laws.

I’ve broken the subject of liberty into four distinct but overlapping categories: personal/spiritual freedom, individual freedom, political freedom, and economic freedom.

1. PERSONAL/SPIRITUAL FREEDOM: Knowing the Grace of Jesus Christ and Who You Are in Him.

We find personal/spiritual freedom when we receive Christ and we reign in life by the abundance of the grace of Christ and the gift of righteousness (Romans 5:17). Christ reigning in us is really the key to our ability to acquire and maintain the three other freedoms listed below.

Many of us also need to identify the specific effects of the dysfunction or possible abuse that we may have suffered growing up and/or in our adult life. Identifying any core issue or unresolved conflict in our life helps us to clarify what we are giving to God and relearn how to live happily, successfully, and free in his grace.

Recommended reading (besides the Bible):

Charles Whitfield, Healing the Child Within (defines the problem - VERY helpful) https://www.amazon.com/Healing-Child-Within-Discovery-Dysfunctional/dp/0932194400/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1481150385&sr=1-1&keywords=healing+the+child+within+by+charles+whitfield

Joseph Prince, Destined to Reign (defines the solution - life changing truths of the gospel of the grace of Christ which will set you free) https://www.amazon.com/Destined-Reign-Effortless-Wholeness-Victorious/dp/1606830090/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1481150673&sr=1-1&keywords=Destined+to+Reign%3A+The+Secret+to+Effortless+Success%2C+Wholeness+and+Victorious+Living+Paperback

2. INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM: The Absence of Unjust Laws.

Individual freedom is defined in the Declaration of Independence as the God-given rights to Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. Individual freedom is protected by the absence of unjust government action which normally comes in the form of coercion or laws. The fewer the laws, the better. The more just the laws, the better.

An unjust law is one that interferes with your adult, private, personal choices.

Recommended reading:

Milton Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom https://www.amazon.com/Capitalism-Freedom-Anniversary-Milton-Friedman/dp/0226264211/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1481154624&sr=1-1&keywords=Milton+Friedman%2C+Capitalism+and+Freedom

Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations https://www.amazon.com/Wealth-Nations-Bantam-Classics/dp/0553585975/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1481154705&sr=1-1&keywords=Adam+Smith%2C+The+Wealth+of+Nations

Thank you!

The following essay is reprinted from "Our Ageless Constitution," a Volume containing essays about the ideas underlying America's Constitution:

"Ideas have consequences." - Weaver
Decades of liberal/progressive efforts to censor, erase and deny the underlying ideas of liberty upon which the U. S. Constitution was framed have had consequences.
Our Constitution embodied a UNIQUE IDEA. Nothing like it had ever been done before. The power of the idea was in the recognition that people's rights are granted directly by the Creator - not by the state - and that the people, then, and only then, grant rights to government. The concept is so simple, yet so very fundamental and far-reaching.
CREATOR
People
Government
America's founders embraced a previously unheard-of political philosophy which held that people are "...endowed BY THEIR CREATOR with certain unalienable rights.." This was the statement of guiding principle for the new nation, and, as such, had to be translated into a concrete charter for government. The Constitution of The United States of America became that charter.
Other forms of government, past and present, rely on the state as the grantor of human rights. America's founders, however, believed that a government made up of imperfect people exercising power over other people should possess limited powers. Through their Constitution, they wished to "secure the blessings of liberty" for themselves and for posterity by limiting the powers of government. Through it, they delegated to government only those rights they wanted it to have, holding to themselves all powers not delegated by the Constitution. They even provided the means for controlling those powers they had granted to government.
This was the unique American idea. Many problems we face today result from a departure from this basic concept. Gradually, other "ideas" have influenced legislation which has reversed the roles and given government greater and greater power over individuals. Early generations of Americans pledged their lives to the cause of individual freedom and limited government and warned, over and over again, that eternal vigilance would be required to preserve that freedom for posterity.
Footnote: "Our Ageless Constitution," W. David Stedman & La Vaughn G. Lewis, Editors (Asheboro, NC, W. David Stedman Associates, 1987) Part III: ISBN 0-937047-01-5

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