Life Without Liberty

As we approach Washington’s birthday, we recall some sobering facts cited by a distinguished judge as he listed things that were lacking in the lives of those who live without liberty. It makes an ominous list: “. . . no right to possess property, real or personal, to travel abroad or live abroad, to read foreign literature, . . . to choose between different candidates with different platforms in elections . . . no church in which to worship God according to . . . conscience, no private organization [of any kind in] the community, . . . no right to emigrate, . . . no right to rent an apartment, no right to live by themselves in privacy, no right to print or publish their own or other persons’ writings, no right to support political ideas other than the ideologies of the State . . . . Free interchange of thought between friends and family becomes difficult and even dangerous . . . . The most tragic element in all of this is that he who lives under such circumstances comforts himself with the thought that a system, which denies justice and freedom, is right. He is not allowed to see and consider another.” With these sobering facts before us, we would say thank God for government by law, and for the God-given free agency of man, which gives the right to choose. We would cite with this fervent plea from a distinguished statesman of our time: “God grant that in his infinite mercy, . . . the spirit of belief and understanding may come to us . . . ere it is too late, and again enkindle in our souls the love of truth over error, of freedom over slavery, of independence over dependence, a reverence for human rights and free local self-government over despotism and tyranny, that shall carry on this free people through the unnumbered centuries yet to come.”