I’ve been trying to come up with a good, practical illustration of Freedom and how it works, and how it can be abused. Basically, this is the issue between Ron Paul and Rick Santorum.

Think for a minute of construction. What is the process for building, say, a house?

    1. plans – first step is to design a workable plan, figure out exactly what and how much materials will be needed, and procure them in some way.
    2. foundation – Frame the foundation. The stronger the foundation, the more secure the building
    3. implement plans – follow the directions contained in the plans

What happens if the foundation is not properly framed? Collapse, or at the very least, corruption of the integrity of the structure.

We have excellent plans for our experimental government, an exercise in Constitutional Republic. What is the “framework” established by the Founding Fathers and those who have preceded us? Yes! This is the question of the day!

Some people today are so fearful of losing their freedoms and liberties, as prescribed in our Founding documents, they are negating the frame. They say to build a any frame is to restrict freedom. I say to establish a proper frame is to release the full potential of freedom. Back to our construction model.

I’m mixing the cement for the foundation. But wait! How will the cement know where to go? what shape to take? How thin or how thick to spread?

FRAMEWORK

“Because power corrupts, society’s demands for moral authority and character
increase as the importance of the position increases.”
John Adams

We build a frame that directs and contains the cement in the shape we choose, in the depth and thickness we prescribe. The FRAME enables the cement to harden properly in the shape we desire. Is the frame prohibiting freedom? On the contrary, it is enabling freedom to solidify and take shape. Freedom is only freedom until your freedom bumps into mine, so a framework is necessary to preserve freedom for ALL. Can anyone use his property for a junk yard? NO! Framework. We teach our children a moral code so they know and understand what is acceptable behavior and what is not. Sometimes, this framework is confirmed by laws, but not always. Some behaviors we just KNOW … temper tantrums, though not outlawed, are simply poor behavior in most quarters, yet not all. We see the evidence of these tantrums in “road rage,” “fatal lover’s quarrels,” as well as in the checkout line of the local grocery store.

Our country may be likened to a new house.
We lack many things, but we possess
the most precious of all – liberty!
James Monroe


What freedom is NOT, is a license for every American to do as they please. It doesn’t work within a single home or family any better than it would in open society. It doesn’t work in a classroom or a business. Without some moral boundaries (fences, guidelines, or mores,) freedom is nothing more than anarchy, and as such, it is destructive and counter-productive to all. So then the question becomes how much intrusion is acceptable?


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,
deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.