Dear Editor:
Conservatism today has gotten fixated on a wrong idea of freedom and that has led to a deep-seated belief that government is bad. A recent letter writer said, "... how can government provide the right to freedom? It cannot. It can only take freedom away."
It is important to note that there are two kinds of freedom - the freedom to ..., and the freedom from .... The freedom to ... is embedded in our Constitution. The First Amendment guarantees the freedoms of speech, press, religion and assembly. The Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments provide that no one shall be deprived of liberty without due process of law.
The government by implementing the Constitution guarantees these freedoms in practice subject to reasonable limits, e.g., we are not free to commit murder, to sell drugs or to run red lights. The people, through their elected representatives, have agreed to these limits and they rely on the government to protect them from those who would violate the limits.
In America our freedom to do such things as speak, publish, practice our chosen religions, read what we want, live where we want, shop where we want, engage in business, etc. is large, and it would not be so without government.
There is also the freedom from ..., e.g., the freedom from want in old age or when disabled, the freedom from disease or from violence or from harm inflicted by natural disasters or by foreign powers.
The government has addressed these freedoms through Social Security, unemployment insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, Obamacare, military and police protection, disaster relief and other measures. It is government assurance of these freedoms from various harms that makes life in America, while not perfect, at least much better than life in almost all other countries.
All of this flows from the constitutional purpose of our government "... to provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity ...."
That's the government set up by the framers of our Constitution. It is a government worth having and it is time for the conservatives to stop bashing it at every opportunity.
Pitch in. Do something constructive. Help make America even better.
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