Give Up? Are You Kidding?
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Filed Under: Ideas and Consequences
Tags: freedom • intervention • liberty • patriotism
These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated. –Thomas Paine
So began the first of 16 pamphlets under the title “The American Crisis,” by patriot Thomas Paine. These very words were read aloud to General George Washington’s forlorn and bedraggled men on Christmas 1776, the night before the Battle of Trenton.
Consider the backdrop: For the six months since the Declaration of Independence, Americans had been in almost constant retreat. To a disinterested observer, the American cause must have seemed hopelessly quixotic. To many patriots as well, it appeared all but lost. But Paine’s stirring words helped give the troops the morale boost they needed. The next day they accomplished the impossible, capturing nearly the entire force arrayed against them. Desertions plummeted and reenlistments soared.
Lovers of liberty need a little Paine today in the face of all the pain around us. It seems at times that the world has gone mad. Companies that lose billions are being bailed out by a government that loses trillions. The same federal Leviathan that outlaws competition in first-class mail delivery but still can’t deliver letters at a profit now supposedly knows how to run auto companies, banks, and insurance firms. Debt, deficits, bureaucracy, regulation, government spending—the depressing stuff already in frightful superabundance pre-financial crisis—now threaten our diminishing liberties more than ever before. The cover of the March 15 issue of Newsweek proclaimed, “We Are All Socialists Now.”
No Sunshine Soldiers
Maybe we have good reason to feel like those dispirited troops on Christmas Day in 1776, but we should learn from what they did just a day later. We can either be summer soldiers and sunshine patriots, or we can let the very principles we profess be our rallying cry for the battles ahead.
Eternal optimist though I am, I admit that pessimism really tugs at me when I read the morning papers. At every speech I give these days, there’s a sizable portion of the crowd that seems ready to crawl under a rock and let the world go to a statist hell in a hand basket.
But then I ask myself, what good purpose could a defeatist attitude possibly promote? Will it make me work harder for the causes I know are right? Is there anything about liberty that an election or events in Congress disproves? If I exude a pessimistic demeanor, will it help attract newcomers to the ideas I believe in? Is this the first time in history that believers in liberty have lost some battles? If we simply throw in the towel, will that enhance the prospects for future victories? Is our cause so menial as to justify deserting it because of some bad news or some new challenges? Do we turn back just because the hill we have to climb got a little steeper?
Readers of this magazine should know the answers to those questions.
This is not the time to abandon time-honored principles. I can’t speak for you but someday I want to go to my reward and be able to look back and say, “I never gave up. I never became part of the problem I tried to solve. I never gave the other side the luxury of winning anything without a rigorous, intellectual contest. I never missed an opportunity to do my best for what I believed in, and it never mattered what the odds or the obstacles were.”
A Tradition of Courage
Remember that we stand on the shoulders of many people who came before us and who persevered through far darker times. The American patriots who shed their blood and suffered through unspeakable hardships as they took on the world’s most powerful nation in 1776 are certainly among them. But I am also thinking of the brave men and women behind the Iron Curtain who resisted the greatest tyranny of the modern age, and won. I think of those like Hayek and Mises who kept the flame of liberty flickering in the 1930s and ’40s. I think of the heroes like Wilberforce and Clarkson who fought to end slavery and literally changed the conscience and character of a nation in the face of the most daunting of disadvantages. And I think of the Scots who, 456 years before the Declaration of Independence, put their lives on the line to repel English invaders with these thrilling words: “It is not for honor or glory or wealth that we fight, but for freedom alone, which no good man gives up except with his life.”
As I think about what some of those great men and women faced, the obstacles before us today seem rather puny. We just need to gird our loins. We have to get a lot smarter and better at reaching more fellow citizens with a compelling alternative to the dead hand of the corrupt and incompetent State. We need to put confident smiles on our faces and sally forth.
Time to Rally
We should not squander a second feeling bad for ourselves. This is a moment when our true character, the stuff we’re really made of, will show itself. If we retreat, that would tell me we were never really worthy of the battle in the first place. But if we resolve to let these tough times build character and rally our dispirited friends to new levels of dedication, we will look back on this occasion someday with pride at how we handled it. Have you called a friend yet today to explain to him or her why liberty should be a top priority?
Nobody ever promised that liberty would be easy to attain or easy to keep. The world has always been full of greedy thieves and thugs, narcissistic power seekers, snake-oil charlatans, unprincipled ne’er-do-wells, and arrogant busybodies. Sometimes they’re nattily dressed in custom-tailored, pin-stripe suits and give good speeches; sometimes they’re bedecked in jewel-studded robes and give lousy speeches; on yet other occasions they wear well-worn street clothes and don’t bother with a speech at all as they hold you up. It doesn’t matter how they’re dressed or what they say. No true friend of liberty should just roll over and play dead for any of them.
Wipe that frown off your face and get to work. Liberty’s future depends on you.
Comment by MOCKBADOC on 22 June 2009:
Dear Lawrence:
Thank you. You don’t know me, and so, of course, you couldn’t know how powerful and appropriate this piece is for me at this exact moment in my life. I have been dreadfully in need of just such an exhortation.
I am suddenly reminded of a scene in one of my favorite movies, when the hero at last faces his nemesis in person, but severely weakened:
“I am only lying here because I lack the strength to stand. Then again,….”
Once again, thank you. May God raise up our own Paine, Washington, and Adams, in just the right moment to preserve our dear Liberty.
Bless you, sir.
MOCKBADOC.
Comment by dave killion on 25 June 2009:
My youngest son has recently returned from Freedom 101, where he heard Mr. Reed and some of his colleagues speak. He is inspired and enthused, and ready to to join the rest of us in defending freedom. Already, he challenges his teachers and exposes his fellow students to ideas they might not otherwise hear. We can be confident! Re-enforcements are on the way!
Comment by Rob on 3 July 2009:
Well said.
Do any of you know of a website that teaches the simple basics about our freedom and the threat to it? FEE is great, but seems a bit complex for those not familiar with the whole issue. Is there somewhere I could direct people to look for good basic information?
Comment by gleason greene on 10 July 2009:
Pessimism tugs at many of us who are concerned about the tremendous growing belief that people can not survive without direction from some super entity to provide direction and protection from evil and misfortune. It is indeed very sad, almost pathetic, that Americans no longer feel they have the capacity to work the economic miracles their ancestors were able to perform in our first 200 years. We have no confidence in ourselves or each other. A very sad state of affairs indeed.
But, Give Up, certainly not. Let me tell you a little story about my relationship with FEE to tug you a little more away from pessimism and towards hope.
I have always been a free spirit, a maverick from day 1. At age 68, after 33 years at IBM, and thinking like many others we would never leave, other than on a stretcher, pine box or whatever, I quit under the guise of retirement. I could no longer tolerate the increasingly controlled environment created by the increasing invasiveness of government rules and regulation supported, even then, by much of society.
Still a firm believer in freedom, not knowing where to turn or what to and knowing little more about economics than one should not remove more from the bank than was entered, I somehow came in contact with FEE; how or why I don’t remember. FEE has changed my life. Now I not only understand what I so firmly believed, but more importantly, am often able with my increased knowledge and understanding, to influence others or at least somewhat intelligently discuss the issues.
Some twelve years ago in my search for some way to make a difference and my experiences with FEE behind me, I partnered with a person half my age to start a company. Not only is every employee a captive member of FEE but our company is run based on Austrian economic principles which hold true for all levels and forms of society, whether it be government, farmer or laborer. That is, productivity, wealth, happiness, success are directly proportional to the freedom of the environment within which people work. As the true economist knows, economics is inextricably interwoven with the workings of human thought. Tom Watson Sr. and his son understood this as many other past great industrial giants.
Our company is small; I still work a full schedule with pleasure. Why? First, in defiance of government controls, rules and regulations. More importantly, what a way to influence a small group to understand the power of free minds working in an open environment.
So Mr. Reed don’t even think about giving up. I am sure many others could tell you similar stories. FEE is very important and helps many of us, not to mention the tremendous strides you have made in improving the FEE image in such a short time.
Thank you; keep up the good work.
Comment by James Madison Fan on 10 July 2009:
Rob,
It seems strange to me that freedom is such a difficult concept for people to understand. It is a sad commentary on what our nation has become.
I have heard people say, Show me where it says that you have the right in the Constitution. The Constitution does not exist to enumerate rights, it exists to protect them. Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence:
\"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.
The Founders believed that rights existed independent of the Consitution, not because of it.
One tool you might find useful in examining freedom is a quote by Oliver W. Holmes:
\"The right to swing my fist ends where the other man\’s nose begins.\"
This may seem a strange sentence to hold so dear but it encapsulates what true freedom is. Freedom is anything you want it to be so long as it does not infringe on another man\’s freedom. Any law that goes beyond that is tyranny.
Comment by Weather-proof Patriot on 15 August 2009:
That piece was very well written and very encouraging to those of us who see this country falling apart so quickly. As I think about what I can do to serve my part in defending Liberty, I get discouraged.
But you know what? I’m not giving up, and your article has helped my morale and I’m going to forward it to a few other patriot friends.
Comment by Jack on 15 September 2009:
Want to understand what the concept of “freedom” is? Go to streamingliberty.com for the 10 Attributes of Liberty vs. ‘Soft’ Tyranny