Freedom- Identity vs Practice

American society is steeped in independence.
We inherit it, however, do we wield it? 

Our founding documents frame liberty as fundamental— The Declaration of independence, The Constitution. 

Freedom can be looked at as protection from government. It also is freedom as participation in government.

When we are in the frame of mind that says “I value freedom, I am free, the system must be working” alone, we may find our selves speaking of “the government” as a ‘them’. 

“They drive costs up. They are pushing this agenda. They don’t listen.” 

Yet we are free enough to participate in government. We may still call and write to elected and appointed officials. We may still vote, run for office. 

Yet we speak of ‘the government’, like a foreign entity. Not our government, my state’s government, our city, my government.

Many feel separated from power, or bemoan ‘the powers that be’. So many day to day feel powerless. 

Stuck in a broken system  

Freedom then is not the insulation from power, it is the ownership, visibility, toolage, and proximity to it. 

In a Republic, “they, the government” is psychological distance. It is protective. Reinforced by ourselves and those around us. 

But are on a precipice. Not because we lack freedom in totality. Not fully, but instead teeter and sway because we are drift from freedom.

Freedom as ownership of happenings 

A republic does not collapse when rights are removed. Not at once in an instant  

It erodes when responsibility is abandoned.

If we insist on calling it “the government,”

we will eventually get exactly that.

The question is not whether we are free.

The question is whether we are acting like it.

Are you?