Individual Liberty, The Key to a Healthy Society

All of the discussion of the second amendment as of late presents a good opportunity to discuss what the Constitution represents to me, and what I believe it represents to our country and to the world.
Our Constitution is one of the most important documents in the history of mankind. It isn’t so because I say it is. It is so because it has changed the world for the better.
Prior to our Declaration of Independence and the ratification of our Constitution, the world consisted of predominantly monarchies, theocracies, totalitarian, despotic and tyrannical governments. There were early democracies and republics in ancient Greece, but these all failed to sustain themselves. In my humble opinion this was because they failed to recognize or identify the one key element that was the core of our Constitutions success. This element was the recognition and focus on the liberty, freedom and independence of the individual.
The founders had studied all of the ancient philosophers. They discussed, debated and argued over their opinions and the empirical evidence which codified them. They realized that the strength of any union, any society, and any government did not lie in the rulers, but in the people and their individual liberty. Only a truly free people could be trusted to govern themselves honestly and faithfully.
They realized the caveats that a free society presented, the dangers inherent in the freedom of speech, the freedom to possess firearms, the right to private property, and all of the specific rights of the individual. They well understood the volatility and sensitivity of these issues. They understood the human condition and they addressed it plainly and simply. They deliberately chose to identify them this way, not because they were unaware of what future held. It was because they understood that the nature of man doesn’t change simply because of technology. The nature of man has been consistent through all of time and will remain so for all of time.
The founders understood that the one single element that is common to all men, for all time is the priority of mans autonomy, his liberty. Not in an egotistical or egocentric way, simply as a means of self preservation. Man seeks to protect and provide for himself and his family, this is the first and most basic need of all humans, and this and this alone motivates everyone in one way or another. The founders realized that this power, the power of the individual was the key to a society’s success, perpetuation and ultimately its salvation. Without the respect of the individual, a society is doomed to ultimate failure because people that are given things without earning them, regardless of how basic and minimal, will not respect either what is given to them, nor the people who are providing.
The respect of the individual, an individual’s economy and an individual’s ability to be free to provide comfort and security for himself, is what made our country great. We are a compassionate, benevolent and caring nation. We give more and do more for the rest of the world than any other country or society ever has or ever will. We do this as individuals, not as a government. We understand how fortunate we are and how much we have and we give of ourselves from gratitude not from a mandate.
This is not to suggest that our society is perfect because of our Constitution. On the contrary, what our Constitution provided was an explanation of why our society will never be perfect. Man is not perfect, and as a result no society or government can ever be either. Nirvana, utopia and perfection are concepts that are unattainable and unrealistic and anyone promising any form of such represents nothing more than pure evil.

Our country is currently under assault. This assault is parodied and lampooned constantly because it is not from an overt force, or an obvious threat such as invasion. It is under assault by ignorance and apathy. People who believe that you can eliminate the nature of man from the equation simply because of how they themselves feel.
There are no masterminds in our midst. There is no one of us that can read the minds and hearts of billions of individuals. There is no way to stop people from doing evil and malevolent things. There is also no way to force people to be good, or responsible or altruistic. These are not the functions of a legitimate government.
A legitimate government understands that the human condition is not affected by legislation and does not respond to attempts to control it; its only effect is on behavior. Government’s responsibility is to promote liberty by applying its laws equitably and justly. By promoting environments that strengthen the individuals claim to his personal economy. This isn’t about the billionaire’s right to own luxuries most of us will only dream about. It’s about the inner city child that resists the temptations of drugs and gangs. Overcomes his parent’s shortcomings and goes to college by the sweat of his brow and the burning inside of him to succeed. Only to be beaten at every turn, by unicentivized public union teachers who failed to prepare him. To be crushed by absurdly expensive college tuition because of lopsided tenure and pension programs for public university employees, to discover the overbearing regulation and requirements on every level of innovation and business development. To find himself a success in spite of all the forces working against him at every level, only to realize he has also become the enemy in the eyes of everyone who chose the easier paths. To be considered evil because of his success, his effort, his work, his achievement. His individuality.
Look at what the ignorant and apathetic did, and continue to do to Justice Clarence Thomas, Herman Cain, Thomas Sowell, Condoleezza Rice and the myriad of others. These people are scorned, hated, disrespected and maligned BECAUSE of their individual achievements. Is this what we have become as a country?
If people want to be munificent, kind, altruistic and compassionate then they need to understand that the only real way to achieve this is through the respect of the individual. The ability to succeed must provide the possibility to fail. There is no compromise with regard to this axiom.
The Constitution was written for me, it was written for you. It was written for each on of us individually. It was done this way because our founders knew that a society of individuals that respected the concept would forever be stronger than any other. A society of individuals preserves itself because of this concept, and a society that works as a collective, for the sake of the collective is doomed to fail. They all have failed, either in terms of time or in quality of life, but they have all failed.
We are still the shining city on the hill. We are still the last place on earth where liberty resides. It is our responsibility to preserve that. For ourselves, our children and for mankind.