Equality vs. Freedom
There are those who worship at the shrine of freedom. For such people, freedom is the ultimate goal in life, as though said freedom is an ends, the ends that all of life was created to support. For such people, any infringement upon any perceived freedom is tantamount to theft. And, mistakenly, these individuals believe that the American Constitution was about freedom. They believe that the constitution, which many have never read, was created for the purpose of ensuring them freedom to do whatever they wish, and suffer no consequences.
But this has never been the case. The pivotal concept that justified the creation of the constitution had little to do with freedom. The underlying thesis the founders explored wasn’t to do with freedom at all. This blog entry discusses the philosophical birth of the constitution, simple enough to understand and interpret because they wrote down exactly the underlying thought that justified their soon-to-be-violence in a document called the Declaration of Independence.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…
Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence
The very first opening line is about equality of the paragraph explaining their departure from pre-existing laws is about equality. Why? Because the rest of the declaration follows from that. Once equality is determined, there are inalienable rights that fall from it. The founders then go on to indicate the first three most important rights to them. But those rights are not all that humans are deserving of, as is attested by the simple phrase “that among these rights are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.” What other rights? Well, one follows quite closely. “Safety and Happiness” in the text reveals another. The founders then go on to enumerate quite a few others, in the form of grievances against the King.
It would surprise many to know that the legal system is the first concern thereafter. This follows from the right of Justice, to which all humans are allowed. It might also surprise some to know that the allowance of migration, or the right of Mobility, is among the chief complaints the founders lodge at the King.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands…
Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence
Further, and interestingly but slightly off topic, the founders decried the King for:
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us…
Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence
What ties these things together? Equality. Equal humans have the right to govern themselves. Humans who are equal to others also must have clear-headed discourse, which is impossible when someone is “exciting domestic insurrections amongst us.”
But these rights didn’t come from the void. Thomas Jefferson didn’t invent them. They hail, in part, from John Locke. The line “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” gives away the game. It’s almost exactly what Locke authored in “Two Treatises of Government,” when he suggests “no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty or possessions.” So diving more deeply into that document, we can uncover the concepts of freedom and equality as they existed in the minds of Locke and the founders. It is the concept of equality that tempers freedom. Locke draws the connection himself in his “Two Treatises:”
…that all men may be restrained from invading others’ rights, and from doing hurt to one another…
John Locke, Two Treatises of Government
This is the part the “freedom lovers” tend to forget: we can never truly be free! For any one person to truly be free, as in to be able to exercise each impulse that comes to mind without retribution, then that person tramples the freedoms of others. This is why all rights have exceptions, including those represented in the Bill of Rights, and why it is right that they do have such exceptions. The founders, for all their flaws, saw this much clearly. It’s a shame that so many who claim to carry the mantle of our American Constitution have never actually read the document or its companion, nor have the context to truly understand what it meant.
Let me not be ambiguous here. If you find yourself chanting about “my guns” or “my speech” without considering the logical consequences on society of either, then you are misunderstanding our nation. If you are following the Orange Man, who embodies so many of the traits of the King we fought to escape, then you really should read the Declaration of Independence first. There are many grievances to be lodged against any power, but to attempt to replace a representative democracy and install a dictator while prattling on about the Constitution is…well, idiotic. There, I said it.
