Has the Value of Freedom Been Overrated?
-
I have to admit, I live in a bubble. I think a lot of people do. Most of the people I interact with daily are like-minded individuals. They are conservatives and libertarians. The vast majority of them are Christians. I do have some liberal friends, but very few in comparison. So, I don’t hear much of the opposing views on these political topics. I hear what the conservatives and libertarians are saying, but I’m not reading or hearing much in-depth commentary from liberals on these things.
However, once in awhile, I step outside of my bubble and I look to see what liberals are saying. It’s fascinating to see the differences between the right and the left. There are sincere people on both sides who want to do things that would improve the nation altogether. Obviously though, they often have very different ideas as to what might be a good step forward. For instance, both believe in compassion and trying to help the poor. But one side says we should lower taxes and diminish government welfare and allow private citizens to keep more of their money to in turn give to the poor while the other side supports taxing the wealthy and providing more government welfare.
The question is how can they have such fundamentally different approaches to these problems?
A few years ago, I read Mark Levin’s book, Liberty and Tyranny. I don’t remember much about it now but I do remember loving the core concept of the book. Levin basically explains this fundamental difference between those on the right and those on the left in terms of liberty and tyranny. The battle cry of most on the right is, We want more freedom. That is the underlying principle of conservatism as well as libertarianism. I happen to be in that boat. I want more freedom and less government. In fact, I take it to an extreme that even most conservatives won’t go to.
Those on the left are very much concerned with the same issues we are on the right, they just don’t view freedom as this higher ideal like we do. For me, I believe freedom is even a godly, biblical principle. I love that verse from Leviticus which says, “Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.” But many don’t feel the same way about it. It’s not that they don’t want freedom, it’s just a cherry on top that would be nice but there are more important things. For instance, they believe helping the poor, protecting the environment, ensuring equality, and things like this take priority over freedom. In fact, it would be selfish to put individual liberty over some of these other things.
It doesn’t seem to me that the value of freedom was something heavily debated early in this country’s history. I think it was commonly understood that freedom is of most importance. How the Founding Fathers could praise the concept of freedom while permitting slavery is beyond me, but that’s beside the point. However, some of the more philosophical individuals on the left today are actually writing about freedom and how its value has perhaps been overrated throughout the years. When I read these things, my jaw drops. I can hardly understand it. But that is the fundamental difference between the political ideologies in this country and so that’s the debate we should be having.
I have an idea I want to run by you. I think this would be a great topic for a live discussion. So, I have considered organizing a live chat that would take place simultaneously on both Facebook and Twitter. I would pick a date and a time and we’d all meet on the same page of my website. Maybe it would be at something like CandCShow.com/freedomchat or something similar. On that page, there would be a live tweet chat happening and just beneath it would be a live Facebook chat. So, if you could either or both. Maybe the chat would last an hour or so. Our subject, of course, would be the value of freedom.
What do you think? I’m not going to do it without your feedback and some degree of confirmation that you’d be interested. So, leave me a comment on CandCShow.com, email me at jeremy@jeremysarber.com, hit me up on Facebook or Twitter, or just call the listener feedback line at 916-J-Sarber, 916-572-7237 and leave me a message. If I feel like there’s enough people interested, I’ll set it up. I think it would be a lot of fun. Plus, it’d give me a chance to get to know you better and you’d get to know me better as well as other listeners of the podcast. Let me know.
“Freedom’s Value | 070 Coffee & Cigarettes” Transcript
About The Author
Jeremy Sarber
I'm the pastor of one of the most blessed churches in all the world. I'm married to the most wonderful woman to walk the face of the earth. I'm host of possibly the most unconventional podcast on the Internet. I am thankful because I deserve none of it. Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email
