Rightful human liberty is a function of man’s equal human rights.
“Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others.” Thomas Jefferson
Human liberty, having been endowed to all of us equally by our Creator, is a part of our human nature; our sacred right to liberty is therefore unalienable and only limited by the equal rights of others. Equal human rights and equality before law was the argument of the American Revolution expressed by Thomas Jefferson in our Declaration of Independence.
Unequal human rights are a function of unequal human value, whereas equal human rights are a function of equal human value. Unequal human value is a function of measurable human value, whereas equal human value is a function of infinite human value. Measurable human value is a derivation of man evolved devoid of God’s image, whereas infinite human value is a derivation of man created in the image of God. Thus, as Thomas Jefferson said, liberty is the gift of God – because rightful human liberty is a function of equal human rights derived from infinite God-given human value.·
“God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God?” Thomas Jefferson·
If man is made in the image of God; then, since God lives and gave life to man, each individual naturally possesses a sacred unalienable right to life and self-defense. If man is made in the image of God; then, since God is free, each individual naturally possesses a sacred unalienable right to liberty – man is born free. If man is made in the image of God; then, since God is the Great Creator, each individual naturally possesses a sacred unalienable right to his/her own creativity – a natural right to property created through individual labor – the natural right of “each man to do as he pleases with himself, and the product of his labor” – a sacred unalienable right to the pursuit of happiness.
Wrongful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will with no limits, or within limits drawn around us by the inferior rights of others. Tyranny (from the point of view of the tyrant) is unobstructed action according to the tyrant’s will with no limits, or within limits drawn around the tyrant by the inferior rights of others; i.e.: tyrants possess wrongful liberty “to do as they please with other men, and the product of other men’s labor.”
Tyranny (from the point of view of a serf) is obstructed action according to someone else’s will (the tyrant’s will) within limits drawn around us by the superior rights of others (superior rights of the tyrant and his cronies). Envision 1,000 people moving three dimensionally in the Superdome – each a unique individual – yet each naturally surrounded by an equally protective bubble – equally protected in their life and labored-for property. Under equal rights each individual possesses maximum freedom of activity – maximum human liberty – maximum “unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others.” As soon as any individual or group of individuals unjustly possess superior rights they become surrounded by larger protective bubbles which, out of geometric necessity, unjustly reduces, in like measure, the freedom of activity – the liberty – of everyone else. Imagine a King or Prince, a Bishop or Imam, or the socialist Pigs of Animal Farm – “superior people” surrounded by bubbles tens or hundreds or thousands of times larger than that of the “little people” – inferior creatures with restricted liberty – their activity obstructed within limits drawn around them by the superior rights of others.·
Socialist government-given human privileges are frequently reversible and unequally parceled out to classes of people – who are then unnaturally pitted against each other in “class struggle.” God-given human rights are inherently equal and unalienable for all people. The socialist argument is that a small group of special people – the socialist ruling class – possesses superior rights protected by superiority before law. The people comprising socialist government – and their cronies – they in effect are the ones made in the image of God – not each and every individual. The socialist ruling class attains this commanding position via excessive collectivization of the people’s property – which enables them “to do as they please with other men, and the product of other men’s labor.” The socialist insanity – and tyranny – of unequal rights and inequality before law is adverse to the spirit of our nation.
“To unequal privileges among members of the same society the spirit of our nation is, with one accord, adverse.” Thomas Jefferson·
Since the American principle of rightful human liberty derived from equal human rights is self-evident moral truth, and the selective superior rights and associated infringement of human liberty in socialism is self-evidently wrong; the question arises: How are equal rights and rightful human liberty protected? Thomas Jefferson answers: Equality before law protects equal human rights and therefore secures rightful human liberty.·
“Bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will, to be rightful, must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights [along with the majority], which equal laws must protect, and to violate would be oppression.” Thomas Jefferson·
“We the People” have endowed a small group of other people – the people comprising government – with temporary privileges required for their task – which is simply to secure our equal rights. The people of government must not possess superior rights – because superior rights for any group violates the right to liberty of everyone else – the rest of us obstructed in our action within limits drawn around us by the superior rights of others. Superior rights for any group of people is the definition of tyranny.·
“Law is often but the tyrant’s will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.” Thomas Jefferson·
If the people of government possess superior rights protected arbitrarily by superior law, then the American Revolution is reduced to an empire of men and not of laws – we would have the opposite of a Constitutional Republic which, as John Adams noted, is “an empire of laws, and not of men.” As things now stand the United States no longer functions as an equal rights-securing Constitutional Republic – because the President and executive branch, Congress, and the Supreme Court function under separate arbitrary law which renders superior rights to them and their cronies. What we now have is a self-serving ruling class, the members of which, like the Pigs of George Orwell’s Animal Farm, are “more equal than others” – superior before law – superior in rights – and in their own eyes – superior in value. As with the Kings and Princes of Medieval European Feudalism, a new ruling class is evolving in the United States, and because of their superior rights and superiority before law they are becoming agents of socialist tyranny – a special class in legal possession of wrongful liberty “to do as they please with other men, and the product of other men’s labor.”·
“With some the word liberty may mean for each man to do as he pleases with himself, and the product of his labor; while with others, the same word may mean for some men to do as they please with other men, and the product of other men’s labor. Here are two, not only different, but incompatible things, called by the same name – liberty. And it follows that each of the things is, by the respective parties, called by two different and incompatible names – liberty and tyranny.” Abraham Lincoln·
This new American tyranny must be opposed at all levels by every American who still believes in the sacredness of equal human rights and equality before law – and therefore the sacredness of rightful human liberty. We must oppose the new American ruling class through the electoral process, but it may be too late for elections to prevent a socialist utopia in America – in other words it may be too late to prevent a new socialist hell on earth in America. Too many Americans are dependent on federal government for their incomes – so they will cast their votes for an un-Declarational, un-Constitutional federal government – to rob the laboring middle class on their behalf – a corrupted electoral process referred to by Karl Marx as “winning the battle of democracy.” We have been warned – additional tyranny is inevitable once a nation passes the electoral tipping point.
“When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half get the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation.” Dr. Adrian Rogers·
We are now at this tipping point in America, where half of the people are in economic class struggle against the other half – where a socialist government is supported by half the people and so controls both halves – the stick of excessive taxation applied to the supporting half in possession of an inferior right to the fruit of their own labor – and a carrot of government benefits for the supported half in possession of a superior right to the fruit of someone else’s labor.
“A government that had been supported by the people and so controlled by the people became one that supported the people and so controlled them.” Garet Garrett·
We now have a socialist government which stands astride the American people, “booted and spurred,” ready to ride us.·
“The general spread of the light of science has already laid open to every view the palpable truth, that the mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately, by the grace of God.” Thomas Jefferson·
In addition to electoral victories, defeat of America’s new socialist ruling class will likely require the power of State governments, acting in concert – to nullify un-Declarational, un-Constitutional, equal rights-destroying, liberty-destroying federal laws and regulations – and ultimately to amend our Constitution with pro-Declarational, anti-socialist law. Defeating the American socialist counter-revolution will require, in essence, a recapitulation of the American Revolution which re-establishes our sacred equal rights and equality before law – and thereby re-establishes rightful – sacred – human liberty.·
Ronald R. Cherry, MD, is a board-certified specialist in lung disease who is in the full-time practice of medicine in Sweetwater, Tennessee. Dr. Cherry also stays busy raising a family, reading, hiking, and fishing. Dr. Cherry is not involved in politics, but he has come to the conclusion that all liberty-loving Americans must educate themselves on the principles and values that were held by our Founding Fathers — and that to maintain our freedom, each generation of Americans will be required to make sacrifices and emulate that generation of Americans.