What`s More Important: Liberty Or The Entity That Protects It?

Let me ask readers a question.
What`s more important: freedom and its undergirding
principles, or the entity meant to protect it? A word of
caution: be careful how you answer that question,
because the way you answer marks your understanding (or
lack thereof) of both freedom and the purpose of
government.

Thomas Jefferson–and the rest of America`s
founders–believed that freedom was the principal
possession, because liberty is a divine–not human–gift.
Listen to Jefferson:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created
equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with
certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life,
Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure
these rights, Governments are instituted among Men.”
(Declaration
of Independence)

Jefferson could not be clearer:
America`s founders desired a land in which men might
live in liberty. By declaring independence from the
government of Great Britain (and instituting new
government), Jefferson, et al., did not intend to erect
an idol (government) that men would worship. They
created a mechanism designed to protect that which they
considered to be their most precious possession:
liberty. In other words, the government they created by
the
Constitution of 1787 was not the object; freedom`s
protection was the object.

Again, listen to Jefferson:
“That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men.”
In other words, government is not the end; it is the
means. Government is not the goal; it is the vehicle
used to reach the goal. Nowhere did Jefferson (and the
rest of America`s founders) express the sentiment that
government, itself, was the objective. Listen to
Jefferson once more:

“That whenever ANY FORM OF GOVERNMENT becomes destructive of these ends,
it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it,
and to institute new Government, laying its foundation
on such principles and organizing its powers in such
form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their
Safety and Happiness.” (Declaration) (Emphasis
added.)

Jefferson is clear: people have a
right to alter or abolish ANY FORM OF GOVERNMENT that
becomes destructive to liberty. To America`s founders,
there was no such thing as a sacred cow when it came to
government. Government had but one purpose:
“to secure these
rights.” When ANY FORM of government stops
protecting sacred, God-given liberties, it is the right
and duty of people to do whatever they deem appropriate
to secure their liberties–even to abolishing the
government.

To America`s founders, patriotism
had everything to do with the love of liberty, not the
love of government!

Today`s brand of patriotism (at
least as expressed by many) is totally foreign to the
fundamental principles of liberty upon which America was
built. I`m talking about the idea that government is an
end and aim in itself; the idea that government must be
protected from the people; the idea that bigger
government equals better government; the idea that
criticism of the government makes one unpatriotic; the
idea that government is a panacea for all our ills; and
the idea that loyalty to the nation equals loyalty to
the government. All of this is a bunch of bull manure!

When government–ANY
GOVERNMENT–stops protecting the liberties of its
citizens, and especially when it begins trampling those
liberties, it has become a
“destructive”
power, and needs to be altered or abolished. Period.

Can any honest, objective citizen
not readily recognize that the current central
government in Washington, D.C., long ago stopped
protecting the God-given rights of free men, and has
become a usurper of those rights? Is there the slightest
doubt in the heart of any lover of liberty that the
biggest threat to our liberties is not to be found in
any foreign capital, but in that putrid province by the
Potomac?

Therefore, we must cast off this
phony idea that we owe some kind of devotion to the
“system.”
Away with the notion that vowing to protect and prolong
the “powers that
be” makes us
“good” Americans. The truth is, there is very little
in Washington, D.C., that is worthy of protecting or
prolonging. The
“system” is a ravenous BEAST that is gorging itself
on our liberties!

Patriotism has nothing to do with
supporting a President, or being loyal to a political
party, or anything of the sort.

Is it patriotic to support our
country (which almost always means our government),
“right or wrong”?
This is one of the most misquoted clichés in American
history, by the way. Big Government zealots (on both the
right and the left) use this phrase often to try to
stifle opposition by making people who would fight for
smaller government appear
“unpatriotic.”

The cliché,
“My country,
right or wrong,” comes from a short address
delivered on the floor of the US Senate by Missouri
Senator Carl Schurz. Taking a strong anti-imperialist
position and having his patriotism questioned because of
it (what`s new, right?), Schurz, on February 29, 1872,

said, “The
senator from Wisconsin cannot frighten me by exclaiming,
`My country, right or wrong.` In one sense I say so,
too. My country–and my country is the great American
Republic. My country, right or wrong; if right, to be
kept right; and if wrong, to be set right.” (Source:
The Congressional Globe, vol. 45, p.

1287)

Schurz then later expanded on this
short statement in a speech delivered at the
Anti-Imperialistic Conference in Chicago, Illinois, on
October 17, 1899. He said:

“I confidently trust that the American people will prove themselves . .
. too wise not to detect the false pride or the
dangerous ambitions or the selfish schemes which so
often hide themselves under that deceptive cry of mock
patriotism: `Our country, right or wrong!` They will not
fail to recognize that our dignity, our free
institutions and the peace and welfare of this and
coming generations of Americans will be secure only as
we cling to the watchword of TRUE patriotism: `Our
country–when right to be kept right; when wrong to be
put right.`”

(Source:

Speeches, Correspondence and Political Papers of Carl
Schurz, vol. 6, 1913, p. 119) (Emphasis in
original.)

Amen! In a free society, genuine
patriotism demands that our country be RIGHT, as our
nation`s policies and practices reflect the values and
principles of its citizens. To feign some kind of
robotic devotion to a nation without regard to sacred
principle or constitutional fidelity is to become a
mindless creature: at best, to be manipulated by any and
every Machiavellian that comes along, or, at worst, to
be a willing participant in tyranny.

As to loyalty to a President merely
because he is President, Theodore Roosevelt may have

said it best:

“Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by
the President or any other public official save exactly
to the degree in which he himself stands by the country.
It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently
serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him
to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he
fails in his duty to stand by the country. In either
event, it is unpatriotic not to tell the truth–whether
about the President or anyone else.”

Hence, freedom-loving Americans
cannot afford to become infatuated with Washington, D.C.
We cannot allow these propagandists on network
television to distort the meaning of true patriotism in
our hearts.

Patriotism means we love freedom.
It means we understand that freedom is a gift of God. It
means we understand that government has only one
legitimate function: to protect freedom. It means that
our love of liberty demands that we oppose, alter, or
even abolish ANY FORM of government that becomes
destructive to these ends. And it means that we will
never allow government to steal liberty from our hearts.

As I asked at the beginning of this
column, What`s more important: freedom and its
undergirding principles, or the entity meant to protect
it? The right answer is, freedom and its undergirding
principles. If you understand that, then you rightly
understand that the current government we find ourselves
under is in desperate need of replacement. And whatever,
however, and whenever that replacement reveals itself is
not nearly as important as that liberty is preserved.

On the other hand, if you
mistakenly believe that government (the entity meant to
protect liberty) is more important than liberty, you are
both tragically deceived and pathetically impotent to
preserving freedom. You may also have identified
yourself as an enemy of freedom.

As for me and my house, we will
stand with Jefferson`s Declaration of Independence–in
whatever form it may present itself in a modern world
bent on dismantling our liberties. In other words, I
pledge no loyalty to any government that seeks to
destroy our freedom–including the current one!

Dr. Chuck Baldwin is the
pastor of Crossroad Baptist Church in Pensacola,
Florida. He hosts a

weekly radio show. His
website is

here.