Published: June 27, 2008 12:56 pm            

Tar Heel Dispatch - Real freedom necessary

Liberty is a word seldom used these days. Sure everyone loves freedom. America stands for it. Our soldiers die protecting it. But we don’t talk about it much, what liberty really means.

Unfortunately, if we don’t have this conversation soon, freedom will be gone before we realize it. Ronald Reagan used to say, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.”

Freedom is inherently good. Our rights come from the Creator, not the government.

Our Declaration of Independence makes clear that all men “are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

These rights cannot be taken away by governments or even democratic majorities because they have no right to dispose of the gift of the Creator. Governments are here not to provide healthcare, redistribute wealth, or tell you how to live.

To the contrary, government is supposed to protect your life against other people who would take it, your property against those who would destroy it, and the fruits of your labor from those who might take it from you.

Many Federalist framers of the U.S. Constitution opposed including a Bill of Rights because they thought listing our rights might unintentionally lead future generations to limit our God given freedoms to those specifically written down.

To avoid this, the 9th and 10th amendments reserve to the people and the states all rights and powers not explicitly delegated by the Constitution to the U.S. government.

But as Thomas Jefferson said, “It is the natural course of things for government to increase, and liberty to yield.”

Have we not seen this occur gradually over time? How right those framers were!

In Canada freedom of speech is under attack from an alliance of PC (politically correct) liberals and radical Muslims from the Canadian Islamic Congress. That organization’s president, Mohamed Elmasry, filed suit with the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal against writer Mark Steyn and the Maclean’s Magazine, which published an article of his which was critical of radical Islamic extremism. They are charged with committing hate speech, an illegal act in Canada, by “stirring up hatred against Muslims” and “injuring their dignity and self-respect.”

These human rights tribunals, mere kangaroo courts, are new and have no precedents or case law with which to adjudicate these so-called human rights violations.

The “judges” have no formal judicial training. They’re not even lawyers, but just career bureaucrats trained in the art of denying the God given right of free speech.

Basic legal procedures such as discovery (the period where the prosecution reveals its evidence to the defense before trial) are ignored.

The First Amendment says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” The 14th Amendment makes the first amendment applicable to all state and local governments.

These are a few of the unalienable rights we are endowed with by our Creator. Too bad Canada doesn’t have a first amendment. But from the looks of things, you wouldn’t be able to tell America has one either.

Just a month ago I learned of a Davidson County high school student who was told he couldn’t even carry his Bible in the hallway. He was told he should “know better” and that the Bible might “offend some people.” The student was threatened with suspension if he didn’t put the Bible away. So much for free exercise of religion.

Last fall I reported to you that UNC campus icon Gary “the Pit Preacher” Birdsong was arrested and banned from campus for refusing to vacate the public area called the Pit.

Another group tried to force him to leave, and when asked if they had a permit, they couldn’t produce one. So he refused to leave, was arrested, and banned for two years. He is now the “beside the Pit Preacher.” So much for free assembly, speech, religion.

Last week the N.C. Senate Judiciary II Committee voted to make cross burning and noose hanging “with the intent to intimidate” a felony. Despite the stupidity and ignorance these actions represent, they are peaceful, symbolic demonstrations. Besides, these actions are already illegal in public, on roadways, and on other people’s land. In addition, acts of intimidation are illegal already. To illustrate the absurdity, it will now be a felony to burn a cross, but threatening someone with a gun is only a misdemeanor.

Freedom is a messy thing, and we may not always like the people, like the Ku Klux Klan, or the gay activists who demonstrate. But freedom of speech, religion, assembly, press are all meant to protect unpopular ideas, thoughts, and expressions from tyrannical majorities.

Popular ideas don’t need protection from the government in the first place. It takes courage to stand up for freedom, real freedom. I hope my generation is not the last to be able to say, once I knew what freedom was.



Tar Heel Dispatch is written by Tyler Younts, a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Younts, who grew up in Farmer, has a passion for writing and for politics and for writing about politics. E-mail comments to news@randolphguide.com or directly to Younts at younts@email.unc.edu

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.