Individual Liberty's Obligations

With all the stuff on the radio, news, and blogs today about the start of the Robert’s confirmation hearing, you might tend to think that this is really important. But it really shouldn’t be. The only reason that any one person on the court is so important is due to the ever-widening reach of the government.

I know more than a few who voted for W only because of his ability to nominate a “strict constructionist” to the court. Well, right now it appears that Roberts isn’t, and who knows who the other nominee will be? I think W is probably a better president than Kerry the Demagogue would have been. The pity is that he’s used that power to further erode the liberty of those who elected him.

I suppose that Roberts is a great guy. I’ll even bet that he is remarkably persuasive and intellectually sharp. But these things do not automatically make for a good Justice, or a good Country. Expecting Roberts to save your liberty is at best, a laughable proposition. So long as we continue to elect advocates of even more intrusive government, we will continue to be pinned under their reign.

Consider the now famous Kelo case. (Where Breyer, the other “great intellect” on the court gave what was considered to the be swing vote affirming the government’s right to take what you’ve got for pretty much any reason at all.) Had it not been for the locally elected government’s drive to remove the property rights of those individuals, there would have been no case sent to the Supremes. Who elected that local government? Why, the residents in New London.

The fight for liberty does not begin in the supreme court, but in each of our lives. And it doesn’t begin at the ballot box either. There are daily arguments to be made, whether it be the wanton waste of the government’s response to Katrina, the virtual imprisonment of those evacuees, the moral and practical effect of gun control, the immorality of speech limitations, or the triumph of individual sovereignty. Each liberty loving individual is charged with carrying that message. On a daily and sometimes hourly basis.

It is much like spreading the Gospel of Christ. Where individuals are charged with sharing that good news. Christ came to us; but he did so not to save the corporate “us”, but the individuals who make “us” up. In this, he died for me, for you, and you, etc. Together, we are us.

So work not just to spread the gospel of Christ, (though that is enough; and more than many will do); carry that individuality of Christ’s message to those you meet in all measures, whether with regard to charity, piety, justice, or even private property. As God has chosen to deal with all men individually, ought not we advocate a society and government that does likewise?