The Fourth Problem With Freedom

The fourth problem with freedom is sometimes bad things happen. This is an idea that will get people fired up, but it needs to be said. Sometimes bad things happen and the Government cannot protect us. And for the moment I am not blaming that on incompetent or evil people in Government. For the purpose of this post I will give them all the benefit of the doubt and say they all have good intentions. But still, at the end of the day, they cannot keep us safe from everything.

This point is made by a quote from Thomas Jefferson. “I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it” What this means is the problems of having to little Government are better than having too much.

What does this mean in our world today? Lets take the Second Amendment as an example. If we are going to be a truly free people, we have to have the right to defend ourselves from our Government. That is the purpose of the Second Amendment. Unfortunately that also means that sometimes guns are going to get into the hands of bad people. Into the hands of those who should not have them. And so sometimes innocent people are going to get shot. I don’t like that idea any more than anyone else but that is reality. We can put stricter measures in place to try to keep guns out of bad hands but it will not end it completely. The only way to stop that is to take away ALL guns. If there was only one gun in the entire nation and it was to somehow get into the wrong hands, politicians would all over the news begging for more power so they can protect us. There is no end to it until all our freedoms are gone.

On the list of how people are killed every year, guns are towards the bottom. But lets say, for arguments sake, all guns are confiscated. There are many other ways to kill someone. Knifes, baseball bats are higher on the list. We still are not safe so do we ban them also then? Will that make us safe? How many other things need to be taken away that could be used to kill someone? I could use my bare hands. What will it take for the Government to keep us safe from absolutely everything?The answer is it is not possible. Look at it this way, people in prisons still kill each other. How much more protected can you be than in federal prison?

So the answer according to Jefferson is, since Government, no matter how much they want to, can not keep us safe, so it is better in the end for us to have the freedom and risk bad things happening, than to give up our freedom to a Government that is not able to do it’s job.