By Allen West, American Constitutional Rights Union, August 13, 2024
“The world has never had a good definition of the word liberty, and the American people, just now, are much in want of one. We all declare for liberty; but in using the same word, we do not all mean the same thing. With some, the word liberty may mean for each man to do as he pleases with himself and the product of his labor; while with others, the same word may mean for some men to do as they please with other men, and the product of other men’s labor. Here are two, not only different but incompatible things, called by the same name, liberty. And it follows that each of the things is, by the respective parties, called by two different and incompatible names, liberty and tyranny. The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep’s throat, for which the sheep thanks the shepherd as a liberator, while the wolf denounces him for the same act as the destroyer of liberty, especially as the sheep was a black one. Plainly, the sheep and the wolf do not agree upon a definition of the word liberty.”
President Abraham Lincoln, Baltimore Sanitary Fair, April 18, 1864
Today, we here in America are not embroiled in a political struggle between two parties, Republican and Democrat. We are embroiled in an age-old battle between two competing philosophies of governance and their definition of liberty. There is no one who has articulated this ongoing ideological conflagration better than Abraham Lincoln and his aforementioned quote. It is my true desire that all Americans would view this coming election cycle, and all, through this lens of the definition of liberty. This is about the relationship between the individual and the institution of government. As our founding document, the Declaration of Independence, asserts, government exists only by the consent of the governed. However, when there is a large percentage of the governed that does not understand the right relationship between themselves and the government, then liberty is perverted…is at risk.
And so it is here in 2024 in America where the battle is between constitutional conservatives, who embrace Lincoln’s former definition of liberty and progressive socialists—Marxists—who embrace the latter. How interesting it is that even back then, in 1864, when the issue of liberty centered around the abolition of slavery, there was a definitive political division.
Today’s leftists embrace Lincoln’s latter definition of liberty; it is all about “Some men to do as they please with other men, and the product of other men’s labor.” Ok, for all the useful leftist idiots who will read this missive, the word “men” is applicable to mankind…men and women. And yes, unlike the International Olympic Committee and Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown-Jackson, I can identify the difference between the two sexes, male and female. Yes, there are only two; everything else is a delusional and deceptive lie proliferated by leftists as part of their immoral and unethical culture war.
Lest I digress.
When you listen to leftists today, especially the ones seeking to be President and Vice President, their whole mantra is based upon their taking the “liberty” to do as they please with that of others. Karl Marx said it appropriately, “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.” Leftists do not regard or respect individual liberty. In their minds, it all belongs to the State, meaning government. Never forget that one of the tenets of the Communist Manifesto is the elimination of private property…funny, Kamala Harris is on record saying that she believes in the elimination of private healthcare. That leads to another tenet of leftist thought that goes right along with forced wealth redistribution—legal plunder—as Frederic Bastiat would say…the nationalization of all economic production. You do not get to keep that which YOU produce because YOU, as an individual, do not exist, therefore YOU have no liberty.
Never forget it was the original leftist, Barack Hussein Obama, who said, “If you own a business, you didn’t build that.” And yet, he was reelected as President because mindless lemmings do not understand the true definition of liberty.
But this foundational American ideal of individual liberty, and the correct definition thereof, not the leftist definition, extends beyond your individual means of production.
According to leftists, and exemplified by Tim Walz, YOU do not have the liberty to raise YOUR children…ala Proverbs 22:6. In Minnesota, Walz signed into law that if parents do not “affirm” their child’s chosen gender ( There we go again, leftists needing a lesson in biology), YOUR child can be taken away from YOU.
Leftists believe that their definition of liberty extends to mandating what YOU can eat, drive, or even have as appliances in your home. Leftists went power mad and apoplectic, demanding that you either take a shot or lose YOUR job, your means of providing for YOURSELF. Leftists do not believe that YOU even have the right, the liberty, to defend YOURSELF…as they open our borders to illegal immigrants, including terrorists, expose us to human and sex trafficking, and release violent criminals from jails. And if you speak out against leftists and their definition of liberty, well, you just may find YOURSELF on a travel watch list, as is Tulsi Gabbard…yes, YOU, not the terrorists.
During the Obama administration, a video called “The Life of Julia” was released. It outlined how the government would provide for this entity, this subject, over the course of its existence. You are not seen as an individual; it is much like the song by Bob Seger, “I Feel Like a Number.”
Much as Lincoln stated those years ago, the shepherd drives the wolf from the flock. Today, if you do so, meaning being a Shepherd or Guard Dog, you are condemned as an extremist. You are attacked, assailed, and, in certain cases, prosecuted and jailed. The leftists today, with their insidious definition of liberty, which is truly tyranny, hate anyone defending the sheep…especially our most vulnerable, our unborn and born children. Their ravenous, bloodthirsty appetite for our little ones is utterly disturbing. Wolves feed upon their prey, leftists seek to butcher, dismember, and mutilate the littlest among us to satisfy some unholy and insatiable desire.
The question going into this election cycle, and all going forward, because progressive socialist leftists ain’t going, is simple…what is YOUR definition of liberty? Will you be a sheep, a Shepherd, a Guard Dog…or a wolf? Are YOU willing to make a stand against the perverted leftist definition of liberty…which is tyranny?
I wish these were the words that we would hear more often in the political sphere.
Steadfast and Loyal.
The premise of this article is fundamentally flawed. The Right’s definition of liberty relates to individual freedom, and what he may do with it. The Right frequently debates with itself, however, over the need to apply limitations to personal liberty. They naively think that everyone in society subscribes to some notion of liberty, and that they only differ in degree. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The hard Left, which now holds power in the west, employs the word “liberty” only as a tool to manipulate the masses, to gain more power for itself. They restrict, or abolish, people’s freedoms, while using the word “liberty” to make them believe that they are still free, when indeed they are not. Liberty as a concept, does not exist in the Left’s lexicon. There is no such thing as liberty. There is only the state and those who must serve it without question.
Some may remember the Dilbert comic strip, where the Machiavellian character Dogbert says, “Cooperation is everyone doing what I say.” Similarly, the Left says, “Everyone will have liberty, when they do what we say.”