Guest column: On Fourth of July, renew our commitment to liberty for all

Independence Day, July 4, was initiated during the last days of the Revolutionary War in Philadelphia by a parade, bonfires and numerous cannon salutes. This celebration was the forerunner of countless martial recognitions over the years of Independence Day, by parades, fireworks and aerial displays. But the Declaration should not be recognized solely as a summons to battle, but, rather, as a conclusive statement of the natural rights of each of us.

Its primary author, Thomas Jefferson, was stating that, along with the right to life and the pursuit of happiness, we were entitled to the liberty which would allow us to make the enabling choices for ourselves. The desire for liberty, freedom from restraint, was the overriding cause of the war. Some of its primary instigators were the “Sons of Liberty,” up in Boston, and, who can forget the plaintive appeal of Patrick Henry to the Virginia House of Burgesses, “Give me liberty, or give me death.”

To spell out and guarantee our liberties, the Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution in 1791, thereby changing natural rights to civil rights — now the rights would be guaranteed in our civil code and safeguarded by the very government from which our peoples’ liberties were to be protected, a paradox.

But are we correct is assuming liberty is essential to life and the pursuit of happiness?   Many contemporary, large and powerful nations, claiming to be democracies, do not agree. In Russia, for instance, it is reported that if one criticizes the current war with Ukraine, he or she is subject to 16 years in prison and, counter to a treaty China signed with Britain concerning their annexation of Hong Kong, the Chinese government has drastically limited the people’s freedom of speech: they may not criticize the very government which is fraudulently curtailing the liberties they were promised.

I believe we are confronting a serious and fundamental crisis today concerning the natural rights of us all. Was John Locke, by whom Jefferson was inspired, incorrect in maintaining that liberty was as natural and essential to humans as arms and legs, that without it one would be an incomplete person?

I believe the maintenance of liberty to our people, along with the health and stability of our government, are really in a delicate balance. We know from the 250 years of our experiment in self-government that the freedoms spelled out in the Bill of Rights are not absolute. As former Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes is reported to have said, “My freedom to swing my fist ends at the other person’s nose.”

The January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, interrupting Congress while it was in the process of verifying the results of the 2020 election, was not an expression of liberty, but, rather, one of anarchy. Maintaining our liberty depends not only on good laws, but also on good and reasonable people. Because the authors of the United States Constitution, meeting in Independence Hall in Philadelphia in that long hot summer of 1787 did not want distraction or interruption, they locked the doors and met in secret.  As Benjamin Franklin was leaving the meeting on the final day, a woman asked him what kind of government the delegates had created. He wisely responded, “a republic, madam, if you can keep it.”

Can we keep it? The Constitution is a brilliant document and fully adequate for guaranteeing our liberty’s maintenance. The question is, do we have the good and fair-minded people who will be up to the task? Let us take advantage of this Independence Day to renew our commitment to liberty for all.

Ed Jones is a member of the Thousand Oaks City Council.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: On Fourth of July, renew our commitment to liberty for all