“Freedom in general may be defined
as the absence of obstacles to
the realization of desires.” –Bertrand Russell
I know that our anti-government groups will fight me on this to the end but I am going to make the point that the biggest danger to our liberties and freedoms comes from the private sector and that often we turn to the government as our protector of those rights. The danger lies not in more and growing government but in its shrinking and starvation willed on it by many.
The party that likes to associate itself with the idea of constitutional freedom is the Republican Party. What I find interesting is that some of the most serious historical violation of our direct rights has come to us from Republican administrations. “The witch hunts” of the McCarthy era, the FBI’s harassment of Civil rights leaders, the Nixon enemies list, and the famous Watergate scandal, and most recently the Patriot Act which rose out of the horrible 9/11 tragedy and has invaded and destroyed more freedoms than any other bill in history.
As many constitutional scholars may argue the rights we so deeply value are actually protected only through a very active government. The stand that many take is that rights and liberties are actually political constructs. The rights do not exist until they are created by law or established in a constitution. Otherwise why is there a need to mention it at all? It would be the same as saying we have the right to breathe.
We are reminded that the Pre-amble of our constitution does not discuss its creation to secure our liberties and posterity, which exists. It says in order to “ordain and establish” those rights. We do not have our rights taken from us by the establishment of a representative government. We simply have those rights protected and secured by that very government so many want us to fear.
Conservatives tend to make the distinction incorrectly I believe, between negative and positive rights. Negative rights such as the freedom of speech and religion are safe as long as the government merely doesn’t interfere with certain actions, while the positive rights are the ones that we argue about and that require or not require government interference. These include right to health care, unemployment, food stamps, welfare, etc.
Another interesting point that many seems to miss is that we often see our rights and civil liberties as the absence of some government action. We consider our speech and religious freedom only when the government does nothing to impede it. We never see our right to free speech violated by our employers, or our schools, or our local community. Yet those sectors often daily impede our rights. We spend so much of our day and our lives at work, a place where we at times have very little rights. We can get fired with no due cause; we can get punished for even associating with people our employers deem wrong such as union organizers.
Those who promote and defend a very minimalist government believe that excluding foreign forces, it is the one and only source of oppressive power in our society. They argue that if we can prevent that government from wielding its power over us that that alone will ensure our freedoms. This however ignores the very strong and large base of power over us in our private lives that can still coerce us and how that action can also greatly limit our freedom. If one takes a look at our history it is at times when the government has taken a hands off approach and stayed out of the private sector that our nation has experienced some of our worst abuses ever. These abuses from the private sector include slavery, corporate monopolies, child labor, and deadly workplaces with no compensation to workers or families, racial and sexual segregation and discrimination. Freedom is not only the ability to do what you want but the ability and responsibility to control your own destiny. When we are left alone by government we may be able to do what we want but there are many hindered by the private sector forces to control their own destiny.
Our rights would be meaningless without a well functioning government. Without the courts to stop any person or organization from violating our freedom of speech that freedom itself becomes moot and unenforceable. The hard fact is that our personal liberties cannot exist or be secured by a simple limitation of government interference. If so then we will render our government frozen useless, and paralyzed. Then the very thing we turn to when those rights are violated becomes powerless to protect those rights, yes even the rights that “seem” negative such as the right not to be tortured or abused by police or prison personnel. We are protected from the abuse of those in power such as law enforcement from the very government that they are trying to diminish.
It is not an easy or small task to protect our individual liberties. Think of all the rights we have that are not considered or thought of on a daily basis. Fair trial, own property, run for office, religion, consumer, collection of debt, to strike, child custody, parental, landlord and tenant rights, self-incrimination, property rights, to petition the government, to privacy, and so on. Enforcing and handling these rights requires we have a strong network of government organization at the federal and state levels. The funding to run these organizations must come from the citizens themselves.
So many of our anti-government proponents argue that you cannot be both pro-rights and pro-government. However the opposite is true. I say you cannot be against government if you support and expect the individual rights to be protected by that same government you oppose. What these folks so often believe is that our rights are only and always freedom from government. This type of thought automatically places a negative mark on government itself. In a sense preventing it from performing its job before it can even begin.
What many who call themselves libertarians seem anxious to do is to break down and starve the government of that funding. A government which is held hostage, starved, and weakened by its citizens either by a lack of funds or power will not in turn be able to come to the aid of those same citizens when they are harmed, whether that harm is internal or external. We have seen this happen in the past most recently in the former Soviet Union. When this does happen the rights of the citizens and the safety of the citizens become unenforceable and non-existent.
The very rights we value and claim to love depend directly on the very government we hold in contempt. So we must have a healthy and active state. If we value rights in some sense we must also value the government which protects those rights. Without the power and the authority behind a well financed state the rights of its citizens we hold so dear are unprotected and worthless.
The anti-government forces have claimed that the growth and expansion of government in the last 75 years has destroyed this nation. This was begun they say by their favorite punching bag President Franklin Roosevelt. They love to talk about the programs of FDR as evil incarnate spreading the evil of socialism across our nation. Killing everything the god-like founding fathers fought for.
In fact if one were to view this growth as growing to meet the need of the nation for additional freedoms then the government is merely protecting more rights for more people. The changes in the last century have liberated more Americans than in anytime in our great history. Social Security has helped millions from the destitution of their old age, giving them more freedom. Equal rights legislation has given women and minorities the right to vote, live where they choose, eat and drink where they wish, earn equal pay for the same work. Because of public health efforts it has freed many of Americans from horrible and devastating diseases like smallpox, polio, and the like. Millions of elderly are free from worry about health care thanks to Medicare. Thanks to the right to strike laws many are free from dangerous and oppressive workplace environments. Due to American’s With Disabilities Act we now see millions freer to move around their world, work and contribute to society, including paying taxes.
Gone are the times of the log cabin and small general stores. Gone is the time when we honestly and literally held and controlled our own fate. We have moved passed the building phase of this nation. We now need to focus on the upkeep, maintenance, and growth within a global society. Despite the denial of many smaller government advocates we do live in a very large and complex economic and social world. We are truly at the mercy of a systemic large economic world. The rise and fall of markets, the impact of globalization, the freezing of wages, the increase of income inequality, outsourcing of many jobs, rising health care cost etc.
The loud cry from the libertarians has been that government needs to leave us alone. This claim is in the larger context a threat rather than a benefit. It is like being set in the middle of the ocean in a small rowboat and being told you’re in charge. True you may very well be the captain of your own ship but you are still at the mercy of the storms, tides, and sharks. If you do survive even the aforementioned, you still must deal with thirst, hunger, heatstroke, and dehydration. We are left to battle the overpowering forces of the giant societal and private sector powers that we have little of no influence on and are deathly ill prepared to do battle.
In today’s world being fee to control your own destiny requires a great deal of power and money. If you have wealth you can tend to your everyday needs such as food, shelter and protection. You are then more easily able to control your life as an individual. With wealth comes the ability to choose, and the luxury to decide where to live what job you want, or even to have a job at all. You can choose what to do with yourself each and every day. But many lack this power. They are so busy trying to maintain even basic needs that to strive for more is foreign to them and out of reach. So these people must rely on that powerful collective, and that we call a strong democratic active government.
The reason our government has grown is because these people had the courage to rise up and band together politically to demand their rights and freedoms. They have called on the government to rescue them from an oppressive and harmful workplace and social restrictions. Only the government and its people can ensure the safety and protection of those at the bottom layer of society. Only the government can give them the power to have influence over their own destiny. We need to stop viewing government as something that has power over us and see it as a tool for ensuring our power.
Those in the anti-government movement since the 1980s have created an atmosphere where government is seen as the enemy, and in no way can government ever work with people to promote freedom. They claim that they are protecting citizens from the abuses of government. But these people seem to completely ignore the abuses of power that come from the private sector. Instead of fighting for the rights of each and every citizen many seem only to be interested in fighting for the rights of a few. They battle for a limited very particular group. Such as people who want the right to own assault rifles, or companies wanting the right to pollute. They tend to put the rights and concerns of property owners over and above those with nothing.
While battling for the rights of those mentioned they seem to fight against the broader rights of those who tend to dwell at the bottom level of society, such as the right to health care or to attend college. In my view they seem to activity campaign against these types of programs. Because of the cost involved. It seems that their dislike for government is more a dislike for taxation and government spending on the needs of the poor and minorities in the nation. It always boils down the idea they just want to keep more of their money. That is why their idea of freedom is so very narrow. An opt out system can in my opinion easily resolve this issue.
These Libertarians love to argue that people should not have a government bureaucrat telling them what to do. Yet they tend to forget for years that we have had powers in the private sector telling us how to live, what wage we earn, when to work, when to get fired, when it is safe to work, etc. The health insurance industry for years has been telling us which treatments and drugs we can and cannot have. They choose which people will and will not be afforded health coverage.
If you are going to argue for the rights of Americans then please fight for the rights of all Americans not only those with money and means. Stand up for all those which the constitution was created to defend, those most at the mercy of a corrupt power, whether its government of private. Be willing to defend not only those who think and act like you but also those who are the polar opposite of you.
