by Mark West
As Americans, Liberty is something we speak of with regularity. We’ve heard it from our earliest years. We hear it in the media, businesses, churches, and in nearly every corner of our land. In fact it’s used so often that I fear it has ceased to carry the reverence that it once held for our original founders -- those who gave their lives for it.
One of our founders, John Adams, once wrote “Liberty, once lost, is lost forever!” This is a profound statement and we see it on the banner above my head. But it’s important to put it in context. This quote was actually part of a letter that John Adams wrote to his wife in 1775. Let me read the entire paragraph so that we can get a sense of just what John Adams was referring to. I quote:
“Your description of the distresses of the worthy inhabitants of Boston and the other seaport towns, is enough to melt a heart of stone.
"Our consolation must be this, that cities may be rebuilt, and a people, reduced to poverty, may acquire fresh property. But a constitution of government, once changed from freedom, can never be restored. Liberty once lost, is lost forever.
"When the people once surrender their share in the Legislature, and their right of defending the limitations upon the Government, and of resisting every encroachment upon them, they can never regain it.”
Friends, these are sober words from John Adams. And yet, these words seem timely, if not prophetic, to our current circumstances. Just what was it that Adams was warning America to beware? And what were the signs that Adams pointed to as indicators that Liberty was soon to be lost?
First, Adams warned us about surrendering our share in the Legislature. What did he mean by this? I believe Adams was warning us about the threat of allowing our legislators to ignore the stake that you and I have in the laws they write. In other words, if we fail to hold our elected officials accountable for the laws they write, then we have allowed our elected officials by default to begin the process of snatching our Liberty away from us.
Does anyone here in this auditorium today share my concern that 535 men and women in Washington are passing laws that they don’t read and are crafting legislation that restrict our lives more, all the while increasing regulations that make our businesses less competitive and less profitable?
While this is deplorable, what Adams warned us of was not an out of control Congress. No, what he warned us of was a populace that “surrendered” their stake in these laws. You see, the crime is not so much what Congress does. The crime is what we fail to do. Most of America has disengaged from government and in so doing, we have surrendered our stake in what we owned, and the very Legislature has become the oppressor.
But Adams’ warning doesn’t stop there. He goes on to caution us about surrendering our rights of defending the limitations upon Government. That sounds like a Tea Party principle -- a Constitutionally Limited Government. And yet, what we have had for decades now is Washington Gone Wild! Our Founding Fathers would roll over in their graves if they could see the volume of laws, regulations, bureaucracies, agencies, and czars that comprise our Federal Behemoth!
But worse than all this is the reality that the vast, vast majority of what we have come to accept and allow at the Federal level of Government is completely and totally unconstitutional. There is absolutely no basis, no legal right, and no mandate within our Governing Document. Yet, again Adams’ warning about the loss of Liberty is not to the Government but rather to the people who would again allow a government to expand its role, scope and size.
John Adams’ final warning was about a people failing to resist every encroachment upon them by their government. This clearly would be the final nail in the coffin of Liberty.
The word encroachment carries the meaning of a stealth, gradual effort to remove, steal or plunder what rightfully belongs to another. John Adams understood that a passive resistance is no resistance and that in order to preserve liberty the people would have to actively resist or push back against those who would choose to remove our liberty.
There are at least two connotations to the word “lost” as I see it. There is the “lost” as in “I lost my keys” but we can likely look for them and find them. So there is no permanency to this lost.
But then there is the lost of “She lost her husband to cancer.” We all understand the significance of this loss. There is no restoring or regaining that loss. It is forever.
I contend that the “lost” that John Adams was referring to was the latter. The one which carries permanency and no possibility of restoration.
So, what must you and I do to insure that Liberty is not lost on our watch? I would contend there are a few simple steps you and I can take on a regular basis to preserve and protect Liberty. You preserve and protect Liberty every time you:
My time is short and I must close. But let me say that I believe the threat to our Liberty for which so many sacrificed their “lives, fortunes and sacred honor” has never been greater than it is today. And the stakes have never been higher.
Will you and I heed the warnings of John Adams?
I pray you will.
One of our founders, John Adams, once wrote “Liberty, once lost, is lost forever!” This is a profound statement and we see it on the banner above my head. But it’s important to put it in context. This quote was actually part of a letter that John Adams wrote to his wife in 1775. Let me read the entire paragraph so that we can get a sense of just what John Adams was referring to. I quote:
“Your description of the distresses of the worthy inhabitants of Boston and the other seaport towns, is enough to melt a heart of stone.
"Our consolation must be this, that cities may be rebuilt, and a people, reduced to poverty, may acquire fresh property. But a constitution of government, once changed from freedom, can never be restored. Liberty once lost, is lost forever.
"When the people once surrender their share in the Legislature, and their right of defending the limitations upon the Government, and of resisting every encroachment upon them, they can never regain it.”
Friends, these are sober words from John Adams. And yet, these words seem timely, if not prophetic, to our current circumstances. Just what was it that Adams was warning America to beware? And what were the signs that Adams pointed to as indicators that Liberty was soon to be lost?
First, Adams warned us about surrendering our share in the Legislature. What did he mean by this? I believe Adams was warning us about the threat of allowing our legislators to ignore the stake that you and I have in the laws they write. In other words, if we fail to hold our elected officials accountable for the laws they write, then we have allowed our elected officials by default to begin the process of snatching our Liberty away from us.
Does anyone here in this auditorium today share my concern that 535 men and women in Washington are passing laws that they don’t read and are crafting legislation that restrict our lives more, all the while increasing regulations that make our businesses less competitive and less profitable?
While this is deplorable, what Adams warned us of was not an out of control Congress. No, what he warned us of was a populace that “surrendered” their stake in these laws. You see, the crime is not so much what Congress does. The crime is what we fail to do. Most of America has disengaged from government and in so doing, we have surrendered our stake in what we owned, and the very Legislature has become the oppressor.
But Adams’ warning doesn’t stop there. He goes on to caution us about surrendering our rights of defending the limitations upon Government. That sounds like a Tea Party principle -- a Constitutionally Limited Government. And yet, what we have had for decades now is Washington Gone Wild! Our Founding Fathers would roll over in their graves if they could see the volume of laws, regulations, bureaucracies, agencies, and czars that comprise our Federal Behemoth!
But worse than all this is the reality that the vast, vast majority of what we have come to accept and allow at the Federal level of Government is completely and totally unconstitutional. There is absolutely no basis, no legal right, and no mandate within our Governing Document. Yet, again Adams’ warning about the loss of Liberty is not to the Government but rather to the people who would again allow a government to expand its role, scope and size.
John Adams’ final warning was about a people failing to resist every encroachment upon them by their government. This clearly would be the final nail in the coffin of Liberty.
The word encroachment carries the meaning of a stealth, gradual effort to remove, steal or plunder what rightfully belongs to another. John Adams understood that a passive resistance is no resistance and that in order to preserve liberty the people would have to actively resist or push back against those who would choose to remove our liberty.
There are at least two connotations to the word “lost” as I see it. There is the “lost” as in “I lost my keys” but we can likely look for them and find them. So there is no permanency to this lost.
But then there is the lost of “She lost her husband to cancer.” We all understand the significance of this loss. There is no restoring or regaining that loss. It is forever.
I contend that the “lost” that John Adams was referring to was the latter. The one which carries permanency and no possibility of restoration.
So, what must you and I do to insure that Liberty is not lost on our watch? I would contend there are a few simple steps you and I can take on a regular basis to preserve and protect Liberty. You preserve and protect Liberty every time you:
- express your views openly about your government
- show up to express your support for a cause or your dissatisfaction for a policy
- you speak out against political overreach
- you send an email or make a phone call to your elected official
- you vote to replace an elected official who seeks to encroach on your liberty
- you refuse to tolerate those who would trample the Constitution’s boundaries
- you step up to the plate like some in this room and say, “Enough is enough, I will run for office myself.”
My time is short and I must close. But let me say that I believe the threat to our Liberty for which so many sacrificed their “lives, fortunes and sacred honor” has never been greater than it is today. And the stakes have never been higher.
Will you and I heed the warnings of John Adams?
- Will we reassert the stake that we have in the Legislature and hold our elected officials accountable?
- Will we demand a Constitutionally limited government?
- Will we resist the relentless encroachment upon us by our government?
I pray you will.
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