Freedom Is More Than Half of the Whole Subject

Aristotle said it in a short terse sentence: “The principle is more than half of the whole subject.”1 Certainly the principle of freedom is more than half of the whole subject. And somehow, each generation must be made to understand the principle and importance and preservation of freedom. It must be taught⎯it must be talked about. “This much at least is clear,” said an able educator, “freedom is born of self-discipline. No individual, no nation, can achieve or maintain liberty without self-control. The undisciplined man is a slave to his own weaknesses; the undisciplined nation is a slave to its own pride,… A nation cannot be born free by the simple statement of a document, no matter how distinguished or revered its signers. Freedom is an achievement;… It took years of constant practice and self-discipline to achieve the freedom we have…. It will take constant self-discipline to retain that freedom…. Liberty is our finest national heritage.”2 The late Stanley Baldwin before a gathering of young men added this observation: “… A responsibility rests upon every one of you, whether you like it or not…. You are the… governors of the future. We vest in you the duty of guarding and safe-guarding what is worthy and worthwhile…. The beauty of the countryside is yours, the green fields,… the hills, and the treasures from the ages of literature and art, all these are yours. The accumulated wealth, material and moral, is being and will be transferred to your account that you may enjoy it. Certainly enjoy it, but also hold it and… enhance it, because… what is coming to you is a trust and not merely a benefit… and unless you rise to the trust there’ll be little benefit for you or for your children to enjoy…”3 We who have lived long are earnestly anxious that you who have longer yet to live may know that you cannot compromise principles, or be less willing, or less alert, or fail to live within law, and still keep the freedom our fathers lived for, fought for, died for. The principle of man’s free agency is the very essence of God’s plan and purpose. “The principle is more than half of the whole question.” God help us to preserve it in principle and in practice.