Hello again, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to another episode of Freedom's Creed. Today is Tuesday, August 2, 2022. This is my first published episode since July the 6th. It's been nearly a month since I have been behind the microphone. The reason for that is because I had a death in the family. An uncle on my dad's side, his brother-in-law, passed away on July the 12th. And so I spent a couple of weeks back in the state that I grew up in and had an opportunity to visit with many extended family members. And it was great on the one hand, sad on the other hand, but it was still a good experience to be able to see extended family and also friends from practically the balance of my life. I guess that's one thing that a funeral does. It does bring people together and people who are able to celebrate the life of the deceased and then be able to visit with other family members and friends at such a time. So it was good on the one hand, but sad on the other. In any case, I chose not to pursue the podcast because I had other things that were occupying my time, and frankly, things that were more important than this podcast. Family is something that I do cherish, my own nuclear family as well as my extended family. And additionally, I do enjoy and cherish the friendships that I have with other people. So those are things that I think all of us tend to value over things, over stuff, over money or any other uh material thing. When it comes right down to it, family really is the most important thing, if you think about it. Now, having said all of that, I do believe that my podcast is important. I want to be able to provide the content that each of you listening desire to hear. And I've talked about this before. If I don't feel that I have content that is worthy for listenership, then don't listen. Period. As a listener of other podcasts myself, I tune in because I want to hear what the host has to say or who the host is interviewing. We all tend to value our time. Time is the thing that we have the most of. And so we want to make sure that we're occupying our time with those things that we value the most. And I do hope that this podcast is something that over time you will be able to value as well. With that in mind, I'm talking about the price of freedom and liberty. Now, in a free republic like ours, there are some things that I think we should all consider. One is that all ideas get to be considered, at least theoretically. So in other words, it doesn't matter if it's a terrible idea or if it's a wonderful idea. Somewhere in the middle, we should find that common ground. Really, with the emphasis being on the fact that no matter what the idea is, there should be consideration of that idea. It doesn't mean that the idea is going to be adopted and something that we're going to be subject to in our government, but we live in a society where ideas flow freely, or at least they should. The second thing that a free republic like ours should adopt or have is that the government cannot prohibit the free exercise of religion nor establish a state religion. The founders understood this principle, and that is why it is contained within the Bill of Rights. In fact, it's in the First Amendment of the First Ten Amendments. And three, kind of going along hand in hand with the second item is the fact that the government cannot abridge the freedom of speech. Now, if you're not familiar with the word abridge, or it's just not a word that we use very often in our society and communication with each other. Hey man, listen here. I'm about to abridge your speech right now. Just I don't like it, and I'm going to abridge it, and there's nothing new about it. We just don't do that in our society. But to abridge just means that it's diminished or that it's depriving, that we're being deprived of speech. And that should not exist in our society. Now I'm kind of joking around about this, but as I think about it, and I'm sure as you think about it, you will probably be able to recall or have brought to your memory times when you felt as though those in power were definitely abridging the speech of fellow citizens. I'll let that percolate for a minute. Number four, disagreement will always exist or should. In fact, to disagree or the right to disagree is really the foundation of a free society. Think about it. Being able to have disagreements in government particularly is a huge benefit in our society. Disagreement actually leads to eventually agreement or compromise. But if the disagreement is not allowed to take place in the first instance, then we may as well just be dictated to by those in power. And if you're like me, I don't want anything to do with that kind of government control. The fifth and final point that I'll make about a free republic like ours is that power must be limited. It has to be limited so as to prevent the abuse of power by those who are elected to represent we the people. Now it seems to me that this power that gets into the bloodstream of some who represent us is a very, very nefarious thing that people just can't handle in some cases. Sometimes people get a little bit of power, they get a taste for what that feels like, and frankly, some people just can't handle it. They let it go to their head and they let it overpower them and overtake them to the point where they have just forgotten what they went into power for or what they were elected to do with that power. And that's something that, like I said, some people just can't handle that kind of power. They can't handle being in the limelight, and they are narcissists in many instances, and they think that what they have to say is much more important than what the average citizen would have to say. And so therefore, they must continue to have this power so that they can wield it in a way that will air quotes help everybody else. Well, that's a bunch of well, you know what. And rest assured that I'm not so naive that I don't believe that there are people who come into office or seek elected office because they want to have that power. Of course, there are people like that. We certainly hope that it's diminished or that there are not as many people who actually want to be elected so that they can wield power, but we have to be aware of and not ignorant of the fact that there are people who do want this power, and frankly, as you know, they don't always have the best interest of other people at heart, unfortunately. Now, you can consider me strange or weird, that's okay, I don't care, but I really love the Federalist papers, the musings of James Madison, Alexander Hamilton. It's to me one of the greatest benefits that we have of understanding our current constitution and all of the founding documents really that were given to us by the founders. Primarily, we're talking, of course, about the Constitution. And in one of those papers, it's Federalist number 41, James Madison has this to say. And listen very carefully to this quote, and if you want to go and search it for yourself, I highly recommend it, because he says some things that I think parallel our day and our time right now. He said this quote, the choice must always be made, if not of the lesser evil, at least of the greater, not the perfect good, and that in every political institution, a power to advance the public happiness involves a discretion which may be misapplied and abused. They will see, therefore, that in all cases where power is to be conferred, the point first to be decided is whether such a power be necessary to the public good, as the next will be, in case of an affirmative decision, to guard as effectually as possible against a perversion of the power to the public detriment. End of quote. And that ought to be the way we judge those who are in power, those who have been elected to represent us. We should be able to judge the things that they do based upon how good it is for the majority of people, or how much good they do for the public good, if that makes sense. Because as he said, there can be and often is a perversion of the power that eventually is to the public detriment. Well, I've taken some time to talk about those things that should exist in a free republic like ours. Now, what I want to do is I want to talk about an alternative system, something that would be different than what we have now. And in my view, we seem to ever be inching closer to something like this and going away from the Constitution and from those things that do grant us the liberty and freedom that we enjoy. Now, in an alternative system than what we presently have today, ideas that do not coincide with the ruling class will not be considered. In fact, most likely will never be considered, and that cannot be a good thing for you or I, or anyone for that matter. Secondly, the government prohibits free exercise of religion, and then indeed may mandate a state religion or none at all. So that could be an alternative to what we have today in our society, and I don't think any of us want that either. Third, in an alternative system to our free republic, the government could deprive citizens of speech. Now think about this. In a free society, even such as ours, there are times when people are deprived of speech, because there have been those in power who have decided that it's a particular kind of speech and they don't want it to go forward for fear of it offending those who may not agree with it. Now that is not a good system for anyone, and thank goodness that we have the First Amendment, among other things. Fourth, in an alternative system to our own, disagreement, opposing viewpoints, mandated behavior, etc., will be perceived as the seeds of tyranny. And so no no, the powers that be in this alternative system must not let this take root because it threatens their power, of course. And finally, in this alternative system, the power is concentrated in the hands of the few, in other words, the ruling class, which will ultimately lead to dissent being illegal. So in other words, if people disagree with the ruling class, then that's the end, because the ruling class they're it. And everyone else, the peasants, as it were, are subject to the ruling class. Now, do we have to imagine this alternative system to our own today? No, we don't. These kinds of systems exist in the world. Imagine putting forth a dissenting opinion in, oh, I don't know, China, North Korea, Venezuela, Cuba, wherever, and see how far you get. See how much support you will receive from those governments. It won't be supported, it will be squelched, and uh you may just disappear. So I ask you again, ladies and gentlemen, what is the price of liberty and freedom? The following are some answers to that question. First, education. We need to be educated, we need to stay informed. Now that doesn't mean necessarily that we go to an institution of higher learning. No. It simply means that we take an active role in our own education. In other words, Google it. Go somewhere where you can actually read something that is beneficial to your understanding of the freedom and liberty that we enjoy. I recommend starting with the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. Second, in this price that we must be willing to pay for freedom and liberty, is that we should and must always allow dissenting opinions. When our leaders disallow dissenting opinions and that these perhaps minority opinions are squelched, then where are we? What do we have? We have tyranny and we have a dictatorship. We can't allow this. Third, and I preach this all the time, I always talk about the Constitution because look, it's the Constitution that must be preserved. If it's not preserved, then I shudder to think what that alternative would be like. And perhaps there are those who, dare I say, out of ignorance, will push back on this idea that the Constitution should be preserved. And the reason why they push back on this idea is because they haven't been taught, nor have they taken the time to independently study the Constitution for a moment, if you can. Don't think about it in terms of what it didn't do for all citizens, particularly early on in the Republic. However, think about what it means and what it does for people today in the 21st century. And I think that you'll realize that the preservation of this document must go on, and it must be able to be applied to all people, regardless of their race, their religion, or any other human characteristic. Number four, and what we should be and what we must be willing to pay in terms of a price for preserving freedom and liberty, is maintaining a free and honest press. Okay. Just saying this out loud, uh it I'm sorry, I can't uh do it with a straight face. Perhaps what I should say is that we need to restore a free and honest press. Maybe that would be better received by many of us in today's age. In any case, a free and honest press is vital to the preservation of the freedoms that we enjoy so very much in this country. Number five, we must be a God fearing people. We must have a reverence and respect to the giver of life, and we should love God above all else. Now, when I say God fearing, I don't mean necessarily fearing him. I mean having a reverence for him, respecting deity, respecting God for who he is. And then number six in this list of what we need to do to pay this price of freedom and liberty, electing God fearing people to positions of power. Because anyone else that we elect to these positions will, as I said, eventually get drunk with power and forget the reason that they may have wanted to get into elected office in the first place. Ladies and gentlemen, my quest in producing this podcast and providing this content is for one reason and one reason only, and that is to preserve, protect, and defend the freedoms and liberties that we all enjoy and that derive, yes, from the Constitution, but first from God. The right to be free, the right to do what we want to do within the confines of the law, those derive from God, and they have been preserved in a document we call the Constitution and also in the Declaration of Independence. These documents must be able to stand the test of time, and it's up to us to make sure that they are preserved, defended, and protected. I'll end this episode with a very short and very meaningful quote from Patrick Henry, who said this quote The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them. End of quote. If you can plan it, you can do it.