What responsibility do you feel concerning your civil and religious freedom? Most people think that such questions are frivolous, because (they think) those questions have already been settled. They were settled in 1776 (or whenever we beat the British).

But the contest for civil and religious freedom continues from generation to generation. Every twenty to thirty years, the battles for liberty are replayed, and every time a new group of people find themselves on the front lines of the continuing quest for civil and religious freedom.

When the Continental Congress published the Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking up Arms in 1775, they recognized that they were just as responsible for civil and religious freedom as the men who settled Jamestown in 1607, one hundred sixty-eight years earlier. The patriots celebrated their fore-fathers exploits:

Our forefathers, inhabitants of the island of Great-Britain, left their native land, to seek on these shores a residence for civil and religious freedom. At the expense of their blood, at the hazard of their fortunes, without the least charge to the country from which they removed, by unceasing labour, and an unconquerable spirit, they effected settlements in the distant and unhospitable wilds of America, then filled with numerous and warlike barbarians.

I have read extensively about the “unceasing labour” and the “unconquerable spirit” which those men (and later, women) displayed. Even those “gentlemen” in the Virginia colony who thought they were too good for common labour, soon realized that true freedom is never granted, it is earned.

Today, we are surrounded by multitudes who are waiting for someone to hand them freedom, to provide them with the blessings of liberty. They expect “the government” to care for them from cradle to grave.

On this continent, there has only been one time when anyone was cared for from cradle-to-grave. That care included food and shelter, clothing and medical care, but it also included chains. The cradle-to-grave care was given by a group of mostly benevolent men and women, but it also involved the owning of the recipient. We call it what it was called then…slavery.

Those who today wish for cradle-to-grave security must check their freedom at the door. They are entering a house of chains where everyone is a slave.

I would rather struggle for everything I need and be free. I want to live in a land that enjoys freedom.

I want a free Tennessee.

From Solitude,
David O Jones