Americans have always considered themselves belonging to the “land of the free.” What exactly does freedom mean? My 8th grade social studies teacher, Mr. Bielski, told us the story of a happy immigrant to America who threw his arms out wide once dockside in New York City. His right arm struck a longshoreman in the nose and the next thing the immigrant knew he was flat on his back looking up at the angry man who’d just put him there. “But, America is a free country!” he shouted. “Your freedom ends where the other person’s nose begins,” was the reply, and with the story of that immigrant being taught how to properly exercise his freedom, Mr. Bielski started the lesson to us on how to do the same.
This country was founded by a group of men who were students of John Locke and his “Social Contract,” theory of self-government. “To escape the uncertainties of the state of nature, individuals consent to form a government. This contract is a mutual agreement to protect their rights and establish a civil society.” The key to the operation of this model is the word mutual.
The corollary to the notion of a “mutual agreement” is that when individuals find themselves subject to a government to which they have not consented, they have the right to revolt. As we know, the founders of this country also accepted this corollary and the message of Ken Burns’ recent documentary was that our nation was born of both blood and water (tears). That nation was nearly torn apart four score and seven years later. Again blood was shed, only this time it was in an attempt to preserve the contract.
That the noble experiment nearly ended then was a stark example of how hard it is to maintain this state of mutuality. The southern states could reasonably claim they were exercising that same right of the Founders in their attempt to assert their independence from the northern ones.
Because they were not successful, the freedom we enjoy today, as a preserved union of both northern and southern states, can be credited to the sacrifices made by those who gave us a “new birth” of freedom. Many of those who sacrificed life, or those they loved, believed that the nation was going through that terrible struggle to purge itself of the sin of having held other human beings in bondage. After emerging, once again whole, the preserved nation could more justifiably consider itself a free country.
Which brings us back to the original question, free to do what? While the freedom we enjoy has indeed been bought with the lives of those who have, and still are, making the supreme sacrifice, that is not the only price that must be paid. Each of us must pay a price. We are heirs of the legacy bequeathed to us by those who made it possible to have a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. Maintenance of the social contract requires that we don’t abdicate our responsibility to govern ourselves. Our representatives in the government must be answerable to the task of defending that right. Voting for someone and then ignoring, or surrendering to, a behavior on their part that violates the social contract outlined in our Constitution is to defame the legacy that has been bequeathed to us.
The price of freedom is diligence. It involves the tiring effort needed to stay informed. It requires active participation in the mechanics of government at whatever level we can reasonably maintain. It means lending a hand in the work of serving others. It means reading from a multitude of news sources. It requires vigilance.
However, it doesn’t mean we are free to dismiss or denigrate the opinions of other members of the nation. It means we must sincerely grapple with the issues that those who hold an opposite opinion present to us as their greatest concerns for justice and strive to come to some agreement. It means holding signs and linking arms and making ourselves visible symbols of the need to preserve the contract. It means that while mutual agreement is never an easy objective to achieve, it nevertheless holds the highest place of all of our aims.
I recommend Timothy Snyder’s book “On Tyranny,” and its series of instructions on combating the rise of tyranny, as having one of the best lists of actions to follow in this regard.
Philip Lussier is a retired educator who lives in Ashfield.