How can we live in liberty when we don’t even know what it looks like?
Knowing we have an enemy means nothing if we’re unaware of what liberty looks like or what we need to do to find and live in it again.
I’m currently sharing a series of articles based on a book I’m working on about the loss of liberty. Previously, I identified how our government has become the new “axis of evil,” working from within to destroy liberty.
According to the Farmer’s Almanac and the Guinness Book of World Records, the foggiest place in the world is the Grand Banks, a spot off the island of Newfoundland, Canada, where the chilly Labrador current from the north meets up with the much warmer Gulf Stream from the south, creating 206 foggy days per year. Because fog reduces visibility, it’s difficult for people to see through it to know where they are and where they’re going.
Doesn’t it seem like America is that way 365 days a year? Where did we miss the mark? How did we end up where we are today? And where do we go from here?
In an almost desperate attempt to salvage what we can of the American Dream, we vote for politicians representing “our side” who promise to do the things necessary to “secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity” but we usually end up with more of the same ol’ same ol’. And even when they appear to make a little progress, it almost always comes with an unintended consequence of some sort ― usually a loss of a little bit of our freedom. They’ll talk about how their laws don’t interfere with our right to live in liberty, but we typically see very little evidence that this is true.
How can a nation that claims to believe, as Benjamin Franklin once said, that “Freedom is not a gift bestowed upon us by other men, but a right that belongs to us by the laws of God and nature” continue to exist under such dysfunction? When we stand them side by side, liberty in America today is a far cry from the liberty our Founding Fathers fought and died for.
Perhaps the reason for this confusion is because we’ve been trapped in the fog for so long that we have become disoriented and, in the process, disconnected from our heart.
UNDERSTANDING OUR CONDITION (A&O×3)
When an EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) or paramedic comes upon a trauma victim, one of the first things he or she will do is assess the level of consciousness. To do that, the trauma victim will be asked three questions: What is your name? What day is it? Where are you? If these three questions are answered correctly, the trauma victim is considered to be fully conscious — Alert and Oriented Times Three.
We need to resist the temptation to dismiss the seriousness of America’s condition. Our country is in trauma, and sadly, too many of her citizens are alert and oriented times zero. Their understanding of America has been reduced to the fact that she exists, nothing more. No comprehension of the serious injuries we have suffered and how, if nothing is done, they will lead to the death of liberty.
A fourth question has been added to the emergency protocol, establishing what is known as Alert and Oriented Times Four (A&O×4): Can you tell me what happened to you? This same question gives us another reference point essential to understanding the condition of liberty in America.
We must identify our condition before we can make the changes necessary to return to a heart of liberty; this cannot be discovered using the self-interested wisdom provided by a government motivated by its insatiable desire to replace God as the provider of our rights.
If we are to ever find America’s greatness again, we must become oriented.
TRIANGULATION
GPS (Global Positioning System) is an amazing bit of technology. A device that easily fits in the palm of your hand communicates with satellites 13,000 miles over your head and can tell you where you are within a few feet using multiple satellites to triangulate your location.
I believe that for us to successfully and accurately navigate our way through a world that’s diametrically opposed to God-given liberty, we must continually triangulate using the three documents, known collectively as the Charters of Freedom: The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. – Preamble Declaration of Independence
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. – Preamble U.S. Constitution
The Conventions of a number of the States, having at the time of their adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government, will best ensure the beneficent ends of its institution. – Preamble Bill of Rights
The only way out of the fog of confusion, and the only way to find and live in liberty, is to purge America’s heart of any inaccurate maps and navigational information and triangulate with the three reference points that created our country.
David Leach is the owner of the Strident Conservative. He holds people of every political stripe accountable and promotes conservative principles over political parties.
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