by Tony Hudson, Save the American West
A free people governs itself first.
When that inner government fails, when self-command and duty to one’s fellow citizens wither, order must increasingly come from outside: more laws, more surveillance, more regulation, more compulsion.
As citizens retreat from civic duty, liberty shrinks to make room for the machinery required to restrain what free people once restrained in themselves.
Empathy for the bullied, assaulted and abused is not enough, for empathy without duty is little more than compassionate spectatorship.
Equally complicit is the man who exploits the law for prosperity. He builds his gated wall and calls it success.
Yet beyond that wall, the society upon which his success depends begins to fail: trust, shared restraint, responsibility, and the quiet habits that once made both prosperity and safety possible.
Eventually the ruin reaches the gate. The person outside has lost security. The person inside has lost the society in which the gate was unnecessary.
Without self-command, victor and vanquished eventually share the same defeat.
This is not a partisan truth. It is an old lesson of free societies.
A republic does not live by statutes alone.
It lives by the character of citizens who uphold its principles when no one is watching.
Compliance can be compelled.
Character cannot. John Donne says it best, no man is an island.
When character is neglected, government must increasingly compel what citizens once supplied voluntarily, and the people become less free.
We still possess the power to choose otherwise.
We can teach the young, and practice ourselves, the wisdom civilization has gathered across centuries: that dignity is owed even to those with whom we disagree; that victory without restraint is temporary; that loyalty does not excuse complicity; and that courage sometimes means refusing an advantage that damages the common life.
The republic must survive between elections.
It will do so only if we form citizens capable of governing themselves.
That work remains ours.
If we are to remain free, we must never forget: A moral decision by definition requires choice.
Freedom gives us that choice.
Choose wisely.
Roger Mitchell says
Good word, Tony, but I’m going to have to think about the last 6 or 8 lines to make sure I understand them correctly.
In his book, Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl wrote these words.
“…everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms–to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
HELEN SABIN says
ROGER – THE PROBLEM WITH YOUR STATEMENT ABOVE IS THAT MANY ARE GASLIGHTED TO THE POINT THEY FOLLOW BLINDLY AND DO NOT CHOSE THE LAST FREEDOM- THINK OF ALL THE CULT THERE ARE AND THEIR MEMBERS WHO SWALLOWED POISON – …..
Roger Mitchell says
WHY ARE YOU SHOUTING?
If you can turn down the volume (shut off the CAPS LOCK key) and respond calmly, are you telling me that my statement is wrong or that Frankel’s is?
Surely you recognize that what I wrote outside of Frankel’s quote CANNOT be wrong on any count. Or are you telling me that “having to think” is a heinous crime? Or are you frothing over the compliment I gave Tony? Saying “Good word” to someone is now taboo? I would have said that to you if you had risen to that level.
No? Then Frankel must be mistaken and since I cannot answer for him, I will simply let his words stand on their own merit. I couldn’t do better, anyway.
Now, with that said, why don’t you calm down and rationally explain why you think Frankel is wrong on the point he made? Oh, and I recommend you read his book before you reply. It’ll make your argument more persuasive.
David Leslie says
Well said, Tony.
These are truths upon which we can create a reset of our country’s political life. I hope all our valley residents will take up the challenge. We can do it, together.