What is it that America values more than anything else? Is it the freedom to do what we want? Is this freedom being elevated from its place as a right to the place of a goal? Is this freedom we call liberty a proper goal or is it a launching pad from which we should be reaching for greater heights?
In my most recent reading I have taken up The Republic by Plato. It’s Plato’s contention that Democracy eventually will lead to tyranny. How? Liberty being the defining characteristic of a democratic society is soon lifted and made not only a right but the greatest good. Consequently, the slippery slope of liberty permeates all aspects of society. From the personal to the public the cry is “Liberty or death!” Soon children want liberty from parents, parents want liberty from commitments, and constituents demand the government give them liberty from work. As the appetite is fed the hunger of liberty grows. Plato, through the voice of Aristotle, argues that this hunger leads to anarchy which leads to tyrants ruling the house.
If Plato is right then why has this not happened to America, or are we just in the process? A little of both is probably the answer. I’m not anywhere close to saying that this great country we live in will fall anytime soon, however Aristotle’s words are worth reflecting on. I also believe it is worth reflecting on how liberty went from a basic freedom (or launching pad) to the greatest good. The path of this reflection would take a lot longer than I’m prepared for at this time but I think the path might take us closer to the idea of a "naked public square" than we may have previously thought. It also would likely lead us to the front door of a church. We would likely knock at the door of this church and find that nobody is home. Nobody is there to set an agenda of values. Nobody is there to inspire us to higher levels of life and higher virtues to pursue. Recognizing nobody was going to come to the door we would likely walk away, joining the chorus “liberty or death!” Without the Church we won’t know any better.
3 comments:
Interesting post...
Off the top of my head I can think of some liberties that are being demanded that are hurting our society and threatening the republic...freedom to have consequence free sex with as many partners as we want, to have the right to abort the child resulting from that freedom, to have our retirement secure despite our own savings patterns, to have our own lifestyles "tolerated" while we do not tolerate others, to have our health care paid for from the public trust etc. etc.
Scary stuff.
BTW, when I commented yesterday I forgot to point out that the Founders were well aware of this danger. Reading through the Founder's writing it was clear that they felt a democracy would never last absent a virtuous citizenry. How do you get a virtuous citizenry?
The Founders thought it was religion, or better yet, faith, that made people virtuous. Os Guinness has described this as a triangle of sorts: faith requires freedom which will not last without virtue which requires faith.
I've never heard that before, the triangle is an interesting idea. In freedom is Os Guinness speaking about political freedom or freedom of the mind? In my own estimation it seems as though freedom of the mind/soul is what is important for the individual and political freedom is what is important for the Society.
If it is the mind we are talking about then freedom requires virtue because without virtue the soul/mind is held captive by the appetite (Plato's word for what Christians would call the flesh). This appetite (flesh) grows out of it's rightful proportion and being more like a tyrannical ruler enslaves the Spirit/Mind.
It follows that true virtue is not possible without faith because faith sets us free (from sin/flesh/appetite) to be virtuous. This is the side of the triangle Plato didn't comprehend. He believed man could be trained or taught to be virtuous and this training would make the mind strong enough to keep the appetite in check.
This is all on a very philosophical level, however this argument can be enlarged if we allow man and government to be interchangeable (as Plato did for this discussion).
For example, Faith is the Church and without political freedom the Church cannot grow. Freedom will not last without true virtue (not just liberty) as shown in my previous post. True virtue's keeper/teacher is the Church.
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