First Principles are also Last Principles

Today we have an article from fellow blogger R.J. Moeller, of Chicago, Illinois entitled First Things First. Mr. Moeller writes of the necessity of knowing from whence came the philosophy that resulted in the Constitution, and the dangers of dismissing them now. Moeller specifically cites the Federalist Papers, Democracy in America, Wealth of Nations, and the Road to Surfdom as touchstones. I would argue that our notions of freedom go back to St. Paul, and that they were slowing and painstaking developed through reasoning based on Christian principles throughout that time period. But, in any case, Moeller is correct.

I'll quote a paragraph or three to whet your appetite for more:

"Liberty”: After establishing where our rights come from, we decided that while equality is a desired outcome, liberty is the necessary catalyst for it to be realized. The French Revolution prized equality over liberty and the people of that once great European nation quickly learned that equality is in the eye of the beholder and in the hand of the executioner. We collectively took a decidedly different and better path.

Liberty must come first, early, and often. One must be free if they are ever to be equal, and even the Creator Himself chose in His infinite wisdom to create a world where uniqueness was more important than strict, enforced equality. Hence, a poor blind black kid from the South can play the piano like Beethoven and sing like a raspy angel, while rich white kids with two working eyes from the North end up being able to play nothing but Ray Charles’ records in their basement.

From the concept of liberty come things like the free market economic system. Voluntary participation, limited government, strong enforcement of previously agreed upon laws, the ability to own private property and “equality of opportunity” (instead of impossible promises for “equality of outcome”). No country can erase the realities of work, death, or even poverty, but the one country that has succeeded in alleviating each of those things more than any other is our own. It is the same one that provides the superior environment within which hundreds of millions of people can work, live, and pursue their own interests without having to cede their basic liberties.

The whole piece is worth reading, if for no other reason than to find out that you, and I are not alone. We do, in fact surround them. It is only be enforcing a politically correct speech codes on us (a Soviet idea, by the way) that they can make their ideas dominant.