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We hear much these days about “freedom” = indeed, there is more talk about it than there is thought. But we hear very little these days about “liberty,*. ‘There is excellent authority for the belief that the Founding Fathers deliberately chose the word “liberty” as distinguished from ‘free dom for use in the basic documents of this nation. They understood the word “freedom to carry the connotation of unrestrained. They understood the word “Liberty” to mean freedom restrained by the responsibilities of citizen ship and orderly self-government, under law. There is an interesting distinction between these words in the Episcopal “Book of Common Prayer. After we won our independence from England in the Revolution, it was necessary to revise the preface to the prayer book for use In this country= now independent of England. Changes made by representatives of the church at that time included this significant language: “Liberty ‘wherewith Christ hath made us fai ours is not a pure democracy -- but as a republic it is a brilliant and practical varia tion of it. We fought the Revolution to be free of the tyranny of remote central government, and we divided authority to prevent its return. But we restrained our freedom by assuming the responsibility of self-government. To insure against concentrated power, the framers of our system not only decentralized it as between the Federal and State Govern ments -- they also took precaution against usurpation of power, by providing for three separate branches of government at each level. Adhering to these fundamental principles, we became the greatest world power in relatively few generations. These principles are a source of our strength at home and our prestige a broad. They are not deterrents to progress they are the basis for it. But we are allowing dangerous departures to accumulate. Listen to Thomas Jefferson, who said there was no danger he apprehended so much “as the consolidation of our Government by the noiseless and, therefore, unalarming instru mentality of the Supreme Court. We now have a Federal Supreme Court which is following a Line of decisions which have invaded homes, handicapped police pro tection, disregarded State sovereignty, interfer ed with executive authority, usurped the powers of Congress, and tampered with our religious practices and the right to trial by jury. And this today: “Departure in principle in one instance becomes a precedent for a second; and the second for a third; and so on till the bulk of society is reduced to misery without sensibilities, except for sin and suffering. “The forehorse of this frightful situation,” according to Jefferson, “is public debt, and in its train there is wretchedness and oppression.” Now we have a Federal Government which has been in the red 30 of the past 36 years. There will be more deficits next year and the year after. There seems to be no inclination to reduce our astronomical nations' debt -- and certainly no plans have been announced. And as may be expected, we find massive Federal spending and centralization of power feeding on each other. We are changing our system of government, but not by amendment to the Constitution as provided in our basic law. We are changing it by means far more subtle ,but equally as effective. The changes are being made not only in Federal court decrees, but also through the power that is being cen tralized through so-called Federal grants, sub sidies and other tools of Central Government intimidation and force. We often wonder how much people, businesses, institutions, localities and States think about the fact that, when they ask for Federal sub sidies, they are asking the Federal Govern ment to limit the very choice of action for which this nation was founded. The facts are -- we are being enticed into centralized government by Federal paternalism, forced into centralization by Federal usurpation of power, and driven to centralization under the burden of public debt. We wish the trend were abating. It is not. There are more such pro posals pending at this moment. We have been policeman, banker and Santa Claus to the free world and the fringe world for more than a score of years ~~ and our Fed eral debt shows it. We cannot keep this up forever. Other nations are able to assume their fair share of the burden where there is just ifiable requirement for foreign assistance and they should do so. Early in this century, the great Teddy Roose velt call “The things that will destroy Ameri can are prosperity at any price, safety first instead of duty first, the love of soft living, and the get-rich-quick theory of live.” We have confidence in this nation and its people. We have the elements for sound moral leadership in the world. We have the people, the resources, the climate and the geography. And our system is designed for liberty and Profitable enterprise. We are in a new era of atomic energy, rockets and space. We have the capacity and know-how for development. We are a God fearing people who have demonstrated our courage. With responsible citizenship, respon sible government, fiscal soundness and ad herence to the principles of our system, there should be no fear for the future. These are our alternatives and itre our responsibility to choose. And we may still choose so long as the government of this country must have the consent of the governed. Please God, may that never change,
Newspaper Details
Hayti Missouri Herald
Hayti, Missouri, US
Thu, Jul 21, 1966
Page 2
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USA 11 Nov 2025
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