Our constitutional republic: Freedom is never free

I was raised in a remote part the country.  It wasn’t the end of the world, but you could see it from there.  As a regional comedian said, “the weather up here spent six months trying to kill ya.”  But I learned some deep lessons there. 

Take responsibility for your own actions.  If you are going to survive and prosper, do the right thing at the right time.  Take care of your friends and neighbors, but don’t allow your foolish actions to place you or them in danger.  When you really and truly need help, humbly ask for it.  Your neighbors will come to your aid, but then you owe them.  That obligation should burn in your soul until returned.  It’s all part of taking responsibility for yourself.

Stay out of other people’s business.  Life is hard enough without social meddling by pseudo-do-gooders.  We are all on this incredible earth and given a life with which to do something.  Try to do good.  That decision, about what is good, is up to each individual.  Each person will suffer adversity and joy.  Try to “walk a mile in your neighbor’s moccasins before judging him.”  Yep, there is a Lakota Sioux reservation right next door.

If you want to own a gun, then own one.  But take responsibility for its safe handling.  Realize that the Second Amendment under the Bill of Rights had nothing to do with hunting.  Its sole purpose is to allow the individual citizen to defend himself or his nation from any intrusive agent that wants to destroy his family or his nation — any entity that threatens his ability to make lawful decisions, his freedom.

Convincing or enlightening us is one thing.  But we object to those who willfully use laws in subversion of our right to live and decide in freedom.  The question to ask is, should a government decide through another law, or should an individual decide?

Another point on guns: Every time you get in your car, you are taking risk.  We know this because far more people die each year from car crashes than from gunshots.  An order of magnitude more.  Still, we will drive our cars around safely and responsibly.  Prosecute the perpetual drunk, but leave the rest of us alone.  That is the meaning of our freedom — freedom from an excessive government or obtrusive politician.

We all follow rules and laws to keep each other safe. Politicians who think new laws restricting legal gun ownership will protect others are sadly mistaken.  Laws prevent only the honest citizen from owning guns, not the criminal.  In effect, these new gun laws harm the law-abiding citizen and give the criminal a gun-free zone in which to perpetuate violence.

Guns in the hands of honest citizens are not the danger.  The politicians who would subvert our Constitution are the real danger.  Read More Guns, Less Crime by Professor John Lott for the facts.

There are those who say our Constitution is a “living document” and therefore subject to interpretation.  I challenge those people to read it and understand the depths of wisdom contained therein before they ignore it.  Clearly, these flexible Constitution people do not understand it in the least. 

The Constitution was forged out of true adversity by men who love individual freedom so much that they put their lives on the line fighting the greatest army and navy of that time.  They rebelled against tyranny.  The sole purpose of the Constitution is to protect the individual from a powerful, invasive government — to protect the individual’s inalienable and G-d-given rights to life, liberty, and the ownership of property.

It was a harsh land, but it is our land, and we came to love it in an almost mystical way.  The land lived under us and loved us as we loved it (except during calving season in the dead of winter).  Weird, but if you’ve ever walked in the remote land, you know that this is true.  We didn’t deserve the land any more than we deserve freedom, but we were granted these blessings by a power greater than any man or man-made thing.

I started this with the edict “take responsibility.”  Freedom is never free.  It requires sacrifice and hard work.  This land, our nation, is worth it.

Jay Davidson is founder and CEO of a commercial bank.  He is a student of the Austrian School of Economics and a dedicated capitalist.  He believes there is a direct connection linking individual right and responsibility, our Constitution, capitalism, and the intent of our Creator.

Image: Pashi via Pixabay, Pixabay License.