My Freedom Protects You, Your Freedom Protects Me

To diffuse the tension in America, get government out of our decisions

The biggest difference between America and the rest of the world is that when the founders were drafting the Constitution, they basically sat around listing the ways in which government had screwed up society in the past. They then tried to make a government structure in which these society-wrecking laws were impossible.

For example, tyrants often imprison people for their political views, or for their religious beliefs. Thus, the First Amendment specifically forbids government from making laws that discriminate based on religion or political viewpoint. Tyrants often disarm their enemies as the first step of subjugation. Thus, the Second Amendment forbids the government from disarming the population.

Notice the way the Constitution is worded. It doesn’t restrict the PEOPLE, it restricts THE GOVERNMENT! It outlines the few things the federal government CAN do, but everything else is out of the hands of politicians. The founders understood what happens when you can outlaw speech, or force people to give up their guns. The Constitution acknowledges that free people have PRE-EXISTING rights and that a legitimate government cannot violate those rights. In fact, the entire purpose of government is to uphold the rights of the people!

This new style of government freed the creative power of Americans, driving the ‘backwater’ new nation to innovate and become a major player on the world stage. Across the world, those suffering under bad government risked everything to come to America and start a new life free of tyrannical rulers.

“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me: I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”

But it is the nature of governments to grow.

And after a while, the founders were gone and ‘career politicians’ were inhabiting the halls of Congress. These politicians found the restrictions of the Constitution to be a pain in the ass — because the restrictions were SUPPOSED to be a pain in the ass for government. But little by little, the government found lawyers and judges that allowed it to overstep its Constitutional limits.

Perhaps the most egregious example of this is Wickard v. Filburn. In this case, Roscoe Filburn was fined for growing twice the ‘legal’ limit of wheat. (The Agriculture Adjustment Act of 1938 and its 1941 amendments established quotas for wheat production) Filburn argued that this extra wheat was simply to to feed his own animals and wasn’t going to be sold, therefore he couldn’t be fined under the commerce clause. In a crazy ruling, the Supreme Court stated that Filburn growing extra wheat meant he didn’t have to BUY extra wheat, therefore interstate commerce WAS impacted and Congress could regulate.

Growing your own wheat on your own land could be regulated by the federal government via the commerce clause.

The simple fact is that if the Constitution meant what the Supreme Court found it to mean in Wickard v. Filburn, there would be no need for a Constitution at all. Just a note that says “Yep, the federal government can do that, too.”

So little by little the government grows. More and more of our decisions are handed over to regulators. Mostly we don’t notice. Sure, your gas cans no longer work and your water pressure sucks — and FORGET about playing lawn darts — but who really has the time to do anything about it?

But pretty soon the situation is dire. As more money and power is controlled by Washington, companies lobby government for favors and stop caring about their customers. The government ‘asks’ corporations to stop “misinformation” in an attempt to circumvent the First Amendment. Then you can’t work in healthcare unless you’re ‘vaccinated’ against covid — because government is paying for the service. (Where in the Constitution is government granted the authority to control our healthcare decisions, again?)

Now everything political is a fight to the death, because it’s IMPERATIVE that ‘the other guy’ doesn’t gain control of this bureaucratic juggernaut and turn its eye upon you like an even scarier Eye of Sauron. After all, that other guy might sic the IRS on you, or maybe the FBI.

The only way to reverse this dangerous trend and get the government back under control is to remember why America was great in the first place — freedom. Not the Joe Biden version of “freedom” where you’re free to do what he says, but REAL freedom. When the government doesn’t have power over your life, you don’t care who the president is.

We all have different goals and different perspectives on life. We all want our freedom for different things, and that’s perfectly fine! Just because I want you to have the freedom to make your own choices doesn’t mean I have to agree with the choices you make. The cause of freedom brings us together. Here’s somebody who understood this:

You don’t have to compromise, what you have to do is emphasize the coalitions that want their freedoms for different reasons, and bring them together.

And that’s the key. My freedom protects you, your freedom protects me.