RESTORING FREEDOM

By Ronald T "Ron" Drioane

Liberty means that individuals are shielded from the whims of rulers as well as the whims of the majority. # Walter Williams

Political winds change. Our constitutional designers recognized this and tried to construct a guideline that would prevent those in power from running over individual rights. It has been a fight from the outset. The 2nd President, John Adams, passed Alien and Sedition Acts that prevented speaking out against the President and jailed a number of citizens. Jefferson overturned the Act. In the early part of this century a group of reformers banded together for "The Noble Experiment", prohibition of alcohol. The results not only were a failure, but arguably spawned and funded the growth of organized crime. Currently the confiscation of personal property by federal drug warriors without due process has now expanded throughout the country overcoming the protections of the 4th and 10th amendments.

Currently, the anti-smoking crowd has restricted smokers and punitively taxed them. Already plans are underway to do the same with high fat food. You don't smoke or frequent McDonalds? You may be certain that those who wish to control others will eventually get around to you, too. The result is a repressive society and a plethora of laws that can be used arbitrarily to get someone who may be targeted by government for speaking out. It is not the job of government to teach individual morality. It is the job of parents, clergy, coaches, etc.

You may not like the idea of certain activities that involve consenting adult decisions. They may not like the idea that you own firearms. When one or the other is allowed to curtail the other's activity, you may be certain that eventually the political wind will shift and the restrictor will become the restricted. Some laws may even make "moral" sense to the majority, but when they take away an individual's personal liberty or property they become despotism.

The great political philosopher, William Pitt noted. "good intention is the plea for every evil inflicted on the freedom of men; it is the excuse of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves."