Freedom Isn't Free

Freedom isn’t free. As Americans, that’s a well-understood concept. Our freedoms come at a cost - we have to work for it, fight for it and, yes, sometimes some have died to preserve those freedoms for their countrymen, for their posterity.

But I think we fail, especially of late, to appreciate the full implications of that statement.

Freedom isn’t free. But it doesn’t just mean that we might have to wage armed conflict and die to preserve it. What it really implies, and the part that I think many Americans fail to realize, is that statement actually means that we have an extraordinary responsibility. It says less about our actual freedoms, and more about how we use them.

The greater the degree of personal liberty you enjoy, the greater the personal responsibility you have. And that personal responsibility means that sometimes you have to sacrifice or do something that you don’t particularly want to do to preserve liberty for your countrymen, for your posterity.

If we could remember that simple fact, perhaps we wouldn’t be so conflicted over mask mandates, vaccine passports, or any other bogeyman some of us use to evade our personal responsibility while over-emphasizing our individual liberty.

Freedom isn’t free. Let’s not leave everything to the military. Let’s all make the sacrifice. Get vaccinated if you are medically able, wear a mask to help stop the spread, and let’s just get this scourge of humanity under control. Individual liberty and personal responsibility are two sides of the same coin - one cannot exist without the other. Maybe it’s time we bring civics back to the core curriculum.