WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.040 Today, we talk about the absolute natural right to liberty. 2 00:00:04.040 --> 00:00:06.080 It's supposed to be for everyone. 3 00:00:06.080 --> 00:00:12.040 That is next. 4 00:00:12.040 --> 00:00:26.120 Hey, welcome back to The Berry Fair Show. 5 00:00:26.120 --> 00:00:27.280 It's great to have you with us. 6 00:00:27.280 --> 00:00:29.600 I hope you're doing really well. 7 00:00:29.600 --> 00:00:32.439 Today, we talk about the right to liberty. 8 00:00:32.439 --> 00:00:35.320 This is an absolute right, a natural right. 9 00:00:35.320 --> 00:00:39.560 But as you can easily observe, not everyone in our government and not every government 10 00:00:39.560 --> 00:00:45.380 believes that you actually have an unabridged right to liberty. 11 00:00:45.380 --> 00:00:47.960 In the previous episode, we looked at the issue of slavery. 12 00:00:47.960 --> 00:00:53.260 It's been used by the left to discount the value of the concept of the right to liberty. 13 00:00:53.260 --> 00:00:57.280 In that discussion, we looked honestly at how a number of the founding fathers were 14 00:00:57.280 --> 00:01:02.160 muddled, saying they were against slavery while still owning slaves. 15 00:01:02.160 --> 00:01:05.440 Other founders never owned slaves and always thought it was immoral and wanted to start 16 00:01:05.440 --> 00:01:07.260 the country clean. 17 00:01:07.260 --> 00:01:11.080 Those with that moral authority wanted to be the first major country in the world that 18 00:01:11.080 --> 00:01:13.440 outlawed slavery. 19 00:01:13.440 --> 00:01:18.120 All the other major countries in the world, from Great Britain to China and India, the 20 00:01:18.120 --> 00:01:23.480 countries of the whole continent of Europe and Africa and all of South America had laws 21 00:01:23.480 --> 00:01:26.020 that allowed for slavery. 22 00:01:26.020 --> 00:01:27.980 We should have expelled it up front. 23 00:01:27.980 --> 00:01:30.780 We didn't get that right until the 13th Amendment outlawed it. 24 00:01:30.780 --> 00:01:36.860 But the fact that these men had human flaws in the context of their culture doesn't denigrate 25 00:01:36.860 --> 00:01:39.660 the purity of the actual message. 26 00:01:39.660 --> 00:01:41.700 You have an absolute right to liberty. 27 00:01:41.700 --> 00:01:46.500 Today, we look at two other essential components of liberty, the philosophy of liberty from 28 00:01:46.500 --> 00:01:51.300 the Greco-Roman and biblical thinkers, and we'll look at the gift that was uniquely 29 00:01:51.300 --> 00:01:54.940 brought to the world by America's founding. 30 00:01:54.940 --> 00:01:56.900 Our freedom rights are based on natural rights. 31 00:01:56.900 --> 00:01:57.900 They're non-negotiable. 32 00:01:57.900 --> 00:01:58.900 They come from God. 33 00:01:58.900 --> 00:02:01.100 Or if you don't believe in God, they come from nature. 34 00:02:01.100 --> 00:02:02.100 They're logical. 35 00:02:02.100 --> 00:02:03.100 They can't be violated. 36 00:02:03.100 --> 00:02:05.140 The three freedom rights are pillars. 37 00:02:05.140 --> 00:02:06.940 They can be seen from a distance. 38 00:02:06.940 --> 00:02:08.820 They can be admired and respected. 39 00:02:08.820 --> 00:02:13.220 But those pillars of freedom won't last if they don't have a proper foundation, whether 40 00:02:13.220 --> 00:02:17.700 it's the right to life, the right to liberty, or the right to the pursuit of happiness. 41 00:02:17.700 --> 00:02:23.020 The foundation must be that the government accepts its limited role. 42 00:02:23.020 --> 00:02:24.780 Our country was built in a unique way. 43 00:02:24.780 --> 00:02:29.100 Its foundation is based on an explicit belief that the government serve its citizens, not 44 00:02:29.100 --> 00:02:30.380 rule over them. 45 00:02:30.380 --> 00:02:36.500 In previous episodes, I described this foundation as your seven citizen mandates. 46 00:02:36.500 --> 00:02:41.260 The Constitution was a social contract that was based on the explicit or implicit understanding 47 00:02:41.260 --> 00:02:42.580 of these seven mandates. 48 00:02:42.580 --> 00:02:45.100 Here's a quick review. 49 00:02:45.100 --> 00:02:46.540 Government shall be limited. 50 00:02:46.540 --> 00:02:49.340 It isn't the answer to every problem. 51 00:02:49.340 --> 00:02:51.240 Government shall obey its own laws. 52 00:02:51.240 --> 00:02:54.580 It can't make you do one thing and not comply with that same requirement itself. 53 00:02:55.380 --> 00:02:56.820 I wish that was applicable now. 54 00:02:56.820 --> 00:02:58.820 Government shall apply all laws equally. 55 00:02:58.820 --> 00:02:59.820 No favoritism. 56 00:02:59.820 --> 00:03:03.740 Can't give one guy a pass and prosecute another just because you don't agree with him for 57 00:03:03.740 --> 00:03:05.940 the same offense. 58 00:03:05.940 --> 00:03:08.180 Government shall protect the rights of the individual. 59 00:03:08.180 --> 00:03:12.500 You as an individual, regardless of your rank, have the right to vote in secret. 60 00:03:12.500 --> 00:03:15.940 There's no religious test for you as an individual to run for office. 61 00:03:15.940 --> 00:03:19.940 And that the individual should be preeminent over the government. 62 00:03:19.940 --> 00:03:22.940 Number five, government shall support economic freedom. 63 00:03:22.940 --> 00:03:25.700 You've got a total right to the rewards of your efforts. 64 00:03:25.700 --> 00:03:28.900 It's your property, your asset, your business. 65 00:03:28.900 --> 00:03:32.420 Number six, government shall be governed under the consent of the people. 66 00:03:32.420 --> 00:03:33.620 It's your government. 67 00:03:33.620 --> 00:03:36.020 Government officials work for you. 68 00:03:36.020 --> 00:03:41.220 And finally, government shall honor freedom rights as preeminent over all others. 69 00:03:41.220 --> 00:03:45.060 All legislation should subordinate to the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of 70 00:03:45.060 --> 00:03:46.060 happiness. 71 00:03:46.060 --> 00:03:52.620 If laws violate or interfere with one of those rights, the legislation should be voided. 72 00:03:52.620 --> 00:03:55.940 So based on that foundation, we have the second pillar of freedom. 73 00:03:55.940 --> 00:03:57.180 The second freedom right. 74 00:03:57.180 --> 00:03:59.140 The right to liberty. 75 00:03:59.140 --> 00:04:01.780 There's a philosophy that established this right. 76 00:04:01.780 --> 00:04:05.740 One element of that philosophy was the notion of being liberated within. 77 00:04:05.740 --> 00:04:09.180 In other words, understanding and embracing your own right to liberty. 78 00:04:09.180 --> 00:04:14.260 Having the personal internal equipment to think like and act like a liberated person. 79 00:04:14.260 --> 00:04:19.100 For this right to remain strong and to be properly understood, the hope was that citizens 80 00:04:19.100 --> 00:04:23.500 would be educated in some rendition of a classical education. 81 00:04:23.500 --> 00:04:26.600 This would provide an education that was coupled with a purpose. 82 00:04:26.600 --> 00:04:31.460 To be educated for a purpose comes from two powerful influences. 83 00:04:31.460 --> 00:04:32.940 The first is biblical. 84 00:04:32.940 --> 00:04:36.140 The second is from the philosophers of the Graeco-Roman era. 85 00:04:36.140 --> 00:04:38.700 From the Greeks, we learn about a classical education. 86 00:04:38.700 --> 00:04:41.860 This education model was designed to liberate you. 87 00:04:41.860 --> 00:04:45.180 You could be a stonemason, but that was just your profession. 88 00:04:45.260 --> 00:04:49.540 Your education could enhance your life and set you free from within. 89 00:04:49.540 --> 00:04:53.460 Though Plato is credited with establishing the seven liberal arts to enable you to be 90 00:04:53.460 --> 00:04:59.540 a philosopher king, the reality is they were refined to build an exemplary person. 91 00:04:59.540 --> 00:05:00.540 The Greeks 92 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:05.600 established the seven liberal arts of grammar, logic, rhetoric, arithmetic, geometry, music, 93 00:05:05.600 --> 00:05:13.040 and astronomy. Grammar would give you a command of the language, enable you to articulate cogently, 94 00:05:13.040 --> 00:05:20.080 you'd study written classical texts, you'd learn the diagram of the different parts of speech, 95 00:05:20.080 --> 00:05:23.760 or you'd learn to diagram the different parts of speech. You see how good I am at it. 96 00:05:23.760 --> 00:05:27.440 You'd learn to spell and how to expand your vocabulary. 97 00:05:28.960 --> 00:05:34.160 Logic would empower you to think rationally, define a problem, evaluate the alternatives, 98 00:05:34.160 --> 00:05:38.960 critique the alternatives, and determine a solution. You'd learn how to investigate truth 99 00:05:38.960 --> 00:05:46.240 and test opinions. Rhetoric would equip you to handle debate and to be able to debate someone 100 00:05:46.240 --> 00:05:51.760 with intelligence. You'd learn how to express your ideas, make a case for your opinion. You'd 101 00:05:51.760 --> 00:05:56.480 learn how to analyze and discuss arguments that were in the classical works, and that had this 102 00:05:56.480 --> 00:06:03.360 auxiliary benefit of teaching you how to be a good reader. Arithmetic would provide you the tools to 103 00:06:03.360 --> 00:06:08.320 assess reality. You'd learn how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide. Geometry would give you the 104 00:06:08.320 --> 00:06:13.120 ability to measure in motion. You would learn practical applications in architecture and 105 00:06:13.120 --> 00:06:19.040 surveying. Music would provide you with an appreciation of beauty. You'd learn the forms 106 00:06:19.040 --> 00:06:23.840 and instruments, and you'd understand how to actually create some music and how to appreciate 107 00:06:23.840 --> 00:06:29.360 it. And then finally, with astronomy, it would teach you about first beginnings and navigation. 108 00:06:29.360 --> 00:06:35.360 You'd learn how to determine dates from the stars. Today, you can prove to the 14th decimal point, 109 00:06:35.360 --> 00:06:42.320 the beginning of the universe means there has to be a beginner. This built into a young person 110 00:06:42.320 --> 00:06:48.160 the ability to think, speak, reason, appreciate beauty, and find God. But its primary purpose was 111 00:06:48.160 --> 00:06:54.400 to liberate the student. What does this create? A capable citizen. With these tools of reasoning, 112 00:06:54.400 --> 00:07:00.800 and expression, and analysis, and appreciation, students can move on to study more complex topics. 113 00:07:00.800 --> 00:07:06.320 But with these skills in hand, a citizen can dialogue with anyone and reason their way through 114 00:07:06.320 --> 00:07:11.760 almost any topic. The founders were nervous that if the country was a pure democracy, 115 00:07:11.760 --> 00:07:17.280 which it isn't, where everyone just votes in the most popular guy, that it would decay quickly to 116 00:07:17.280 --> 00:07:25.040 the lowest common denominator. But if the citizens had a good grasp of a classical liberal arts 117 00:07:25.040 --> 00:07:31.680 education, they'd be good at self-expression, critical analysis, and rational inquiry. So the 118 00:07:31.680 --> 00:07:35.840 founders had a variety of educations, but they all had some rendition of this classical approach, 119 00:07:35.840 --> 00:07:40.080 even the ones that were self-educated. They all understood the concept of liberation from 120 00:07:40.080 --> 00:07:45.920 the Greeks and the Romans. The other guiding philosophy of liberty was based on biblical 121 00:07:45.920 --> 00:07:50.720 authors and post-biblical thinkers and philosophers. They articulated the concept 122 00:07:50.720 --> 00:07:56.240 of natural law. We discussed that in detail a few episodes ago. But then there's also this 123 00:07:56.240 --> 00:08:01.520 great warning that comes from the Bible. This comes from an ancient period of about 560 BC. 124 00:08:01.520 --> 00:08:06.800 So one of the 40 authors of the Bible, a guy by the name of Samuel, was writing about a conversation 125 00:08:06.800 --> 00:08:12.480 he's having with God about setting up a monarchy to rule over Israel. God basically told Samuel 126 00:08:12.480 --> 00:08:16.640 that it's going to end up in disaster. God says that a king will expand his control in every 127 00:08:16.640 --> 00:08:20.800 direction. He'll tax you. He'll take your daughters into his palace. He'll take your 128 00:08:20.800 --> 00:08:25.520 sons into his wars. He'll take the best of your land and give it to his employees. You'll lose 129 00:08:25.520 --> 00:08:31.200 your freedom. It's not the best form of government. Don't do it. But the people still wanted the king. 130 00:08:31.200 --> 00:08:38.880 So God allowed it out of punishment. The philosopher Aurelius Augustine, or Augustine, 131 00:08:38.880 --> 00:08:42.640 I think is the proper way to say his name, but it's so hard to say it that way. 132 00:08:42.640 --> 00:08:49.200 Looks like Augustine. Anyway, Augustine lived from 354 to 430, and he was a giant. And just 133 00:08:49.200 --> 00:08:55.120 about every theologian since him has referenced him because his work was so powerful. His work, 134 00:08:55.120 --> 00:09:01.040 along with the theologian Thomas Aquinas, who lived in the 1200s, further explained the notion 135 00:09:01.040 --> 00:09:07.840 of liberty on a civic level through an interesting lens. It's liberty through the lens of being set 136 00:09:07.840 --> 00:09:14.400 free personally and spiritually. Civic authority should be limited to allow people to find God for 137 00:09:14.400 --> 00:09:19.200 themselves. They argued that in the Old Testament there's this concept of freedom that's clear. 138 00:09:19.920 --> 00:09:24.000 The laws of due process and private property rights and one man not being under the control 139 00:09:24.000 --> 00:09:29.600 of another were introduced in Genesis, clarified in Exodus, detailed in Leviticus, and the blessing 140 00:09:29.600 --> 00:09:36.560 of all these fair laws and civic freedom were articulated in Deuteronomy. Later, the theologian 141 00:09:36.560 --> 00:09:43.360 whose materials architected the Reformation and who is credited with laying the conceptual framework 142 00:09:43.360 --> 00:09:51.840 of the American Republic is a Geneva whiz by the name of John Calvin. He was a prolific writer and 143 00:09:51.840 --> 00:09:58.080 speaker. His institutes and commentaries occupy over 15,000 pages, no matter how you look at it, 144 00:09:58.080 --> 00:09:59.840 in small font. And these are 145 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:09.760 complex discussions. Let me show you. That's it. That's some of Calvin's work. And that's amazing. 146 00:10:09.760 --> 00:10:17.800 What other thing to look at in his work? I'm just going to show you. That small font. I mean, it's 147 00:10:17.800 --> 00:10:23.920 crazy. A lot of stuff he wrote. So for those of you who are just listening, I'm showing the 148 00:10:23.920 --> 00:10:30.200 Institutes and some of his commentaries, and it takes up a chunk of the bookcase behind me. He 149 00:10:30.200 --> 00:10:36.560 was one of history's most influential guys, and he lived before computers. In the 1500s, how'd he 150 00:10:36.560 --> 00:10:41.280 have the time to write all that stuff, in addition to all of his speaking engagements? Well anyway, 151 00:10:41.280 --> 00:10:48.880 Calvin's materials went everywhere, and people came to him from all over. Now you know Switzerland to 152 00:10:48.880 --> 00:10:54.240 be the neutral state, the place where Europeans would escape to get away from the Nazis. Well, 153 00:10:54.240 --> 00:11:01.840 long before it was established, which was 1848, Geneva was a refuge. During Calvin's time, Geneva 154 00:11:01.840 --> 00:11:08.960 offered shelter to religious refugees from France, England, Scotland, the Netherlands, Germany, Hungary, 155 00:11:08.960 --> 00:11:15.280 Italy, and Spain. These guys got their learning, and they got their education, and they returned 156 00:11:15.280 --> 00:11:21.040 home with all these ideas from Calvin in their heads. So his French followers set forth the 157 00:11:21.040 --> 00:11:26.240 concept that would undermine the French monarchy. His Dutch followers set the stage for the resistance 158 00:11:26.240 --> 00:11:32.320 to the Spanish dominion. His Netherland followers went back and created a whole new Netherlands and 159 00:11:32.320 --> 00:11:37.600 established an independent kingdom. His English followers influenced those who influenced the 160 00:11:37.600 --> 00:11:45.280 American founders. He talked about nearly every important subject matter, but in terms of liberty, 161 00:11:45.840 --> 00:11:53.200 he saw it in two forms. There was spiritual liberty, and there was civic liberty. In terms of 162 00:11:53.200 --> 00:11:59.600 spiritual liberty, it goes like this. Since the devil curses and Jesus heals, since the devil 163 00:11:59.600 --> 00:12:04.800 offers eternal death while Jesus offers eternal life, and since the devil binds people to their 164 00:12:04.800 --> 00:12:13.120 unhealthy addictions while Jesus sets people free, all people should rationally see it as much better 165 00:12:13.120 --> 00:12:20.720 to be spiritually set free. To Calvin, everything was integrated. The spiritual matters were the most 166 00:12:20.720 --> 00:12:26.400 important, but they all had economic and civic ramifications. So when he spoke in terms of 167 00:12:26.400 --> 00:12:32.000 civic liberty, Calvin promulgated a thoughtful new form of government. Everyone had the right to be 168 00:12:32.000 --> 00:12:38.320 liberated from tyranny, but he also advocated for government. He was explicitly opposed to anarchy. 169 00:12:39.360 --> 00:12:44.640 So how in the heck do you advocate for some government model that hasn't yet been seen? 170 00:12:45.760 --> 00:12:54.160 He laid out this broad governing principle. First, government should apply all laws equally. Second, 171 00:12:54.160 --> 00:12:59.280 government should submit to the concept of natural law, which is available and applicable to all 172 00:12:59.280 --> 00:13:07.440 people. Finally, all laws should be tested by the perpetual concept of love. So here he believed 173 00:13:07.440 --> 00:13:11.760 civil government should protect the lives and property of its citizens, and if the occupants 174 00:13:11.760 --> 00:13:17.280 of government were ruled under God, he said that that government could also do some limited good 175 00:13:17.840 --> 00:13:24.080 with schools, roads, and hospitals. So what's the model? Well, there were democracies that were 176 00:13:24.080 --> 00:13:30.880 actually failing left and right. The Machiavellian concept of coming from the prince, 177 00:13:31.600 --> 00:13:38.400 gaining absolute power as a monarch, was actually on the rise. So he proposed a government that was 178 00:13:38.400 --> 00:13:42.800 similar to the new church model that he was promoting in Geneva. This is where ministers, 179 00:13:42.800 --> 00:13:48.800 elders, and deacons would run it, but as a counter to the top-down autocracy for the church at the 180 00:13:48.800 --> 00:13:54.800 time, those posts would be elected by the members. He was opposed to an authoritarian form of 181 00:13:54.800 --> 00:14:00.880 government. He proposed a distributed authority model. He wanted the church to influence the state 182 00:14:00.880 --> 00:14:07.200 with biblical teaching, but the church was not to rule the state. He proposed government have some 183 00:14:07.200 --> 00:14:13.360 combination of a democracy and what he called an aristocracy. He's credited with being the 184 00:14:13.360 --> 00:14:20.480 forefather of the republican form of government that we have in America, and we really do have a 185 00:14:20.480 --> 00:14:24.880 pretty brilliant set of checks and balances. I mean, even our judges have a check on their 186 00:14:24.880 --> 00:14:32.320 behavior with a jury of our peers to keep them from taking bribes. So Calvin stressed that no 187 00:14:32.320 --> 00:14:37.760 society will prosper for long without a government that is in submission to God. At the end of the 188 00:14:37.760 --> 00:14:42.400 day, if people aren't honoring God, they're not going to be good enough people to be governed 189 00:14:42.400 --> 00:14:47.360 anyway. So there you have it. Some of the philosophical underpinnings for the founder's 190 00:14:47.360 --> 00:14:53.920 concept of liberty. And naturally, you can see why the left is so opposed to it. Our form of 191 00:14:53.920 --> 00:14:59.920 government is directly linked to the thinkers, authors, and philosophers who believed in absolute 192 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:04.960 and shaped the world. An absolute right to liberty. 193 00:15:04.960 --> 00:15:08.680 But there's one more thing, and that's life experience. 194 00:15:08.680 --> 00:15:11.800 The founders were real people with real life stories. 195 00:15:11.800 --> 00:15:15.760 So let's look at our first president, George Washington. His great, great 196 00:15:15.760 --> 00:15:16.560 grandfather, 197 00:15:16.560 --> 00:15:21.200 John Washington, fled England to come to the United States because he wanted liberty. 198 00:15:21.200 --> 00:15:25.160 He may or may not have read Calvin, but he knew that he did not want to live in 199 00:15:25.160 --> 00:15:25.680 England. 200 00:15:26.000 --> 00:15:31.480 He wanted freedom. This was in 1656, and John Washington was just 25 years old at 201 00:15:31.480 --> 00:15:31.920 the time. 202 00:15:31.920 --> 00:15:35.320 He left his southeastern England home 203 00:15:35.320 --> 00:15:39.080 and boarded a small merchant vessel that was bound for the English colonies in 204 00:15:39.080 --> 00:15:39.800 North America. 205 00:15:39.800 --> 00:15:42.880 Now what was in John Washington's head? 206 00:15:42.880 --> 00:15:47.200 Well, I don't know, but we can make a pretty educated guess by looking at his 207 00:15:47.200 --> 00:15:48.640 upbringing and his behavior. 208 00:15:48.640 --> 00:15:53.400 His dad, Lawrence Washington, was part of the official Church of England. 209 00:15:53.920 --> 00:15:56.920 He had a high-paying job under King Charles I, 210 00:15:56.920 --> 00:16:00.960 but King Charles I was hated for a whole bunch of understandable reasons. 211 00:16:00.960 --> 00:16:04.840 So King Charles I was executed for being a tyrant, 212 00:16:04.840 --> 00:16:08.400 traitor, murderer, and public enemy to the good people of this nation. 213 00:16:08.400 --> 00:16:13.400 That's if you read the actual death warrant. Now John Washington is 11 when 214 00:16:13.400 --> 00:16:14.520 the Civil War starts 215 00:16:14.520 --> 00:16:17.800 and 18 when it ends with King Charles 216 00:16:17.800 --> 00:16:21.600 getting his head lopped off. His dad, 217 00:16:21.760 --> 00:16:25.160 Lawrence, was on the wrong side of the Civil War in England, 218 00:16:25.160 --> 00:16:30.120 which started when John was 11. So at the end of the Civil War, the king had been 219 00:16:30.120 --> 00:16:35.080 executed and Oliver Cromwell was in charge. Oliver banished over a hundred 220 00:16:35.080 --> 00:16:37.240 priests who were connected to the Church of England, 221 00:16:37.240 --> 00:16:40.600 and Lawrence, John's dad, was one of those guys. 222 00:16:40.600 --> 00:16:44.520 So he was sent to a parish so poor that his kids, 223 00:16:44.520 --> 00:16:50.480 including John Washington, could not go with him. So in 1643, when John was 12, 224 00:16:50.520 --> 00:16:53.840 his dad, Lawrence, was cruelly all alone 225 00:16:53.840 --> 00:16:58.080 at this impoverished church until he died when John was 21. 226 00:16:58.080 --> 00:17:02.640 That'll affect you. John died 227 00:17:02.640 --> 00:17:07.680 when he was just 46, but not before he could totally reset the trajectory 228 00:17:07.680 --> 00:17:12.480 of his legacy. So this neighborly family, the Sandys, took him in. 229 00:17:12.480 --> 00:17:16.200 Ed Sandys was a treasurer for the Virginia Company, 230 00:17:16.200 --> 00:17:19.880 and it was here that young John Washington learned a trade. Officially, he 231 00:17:19.880 --> 00:17:23.760 was supposed to be part of a minor trade voyage to transport tobacco to the 232 00:17:23.760 --> 00:17:24.520 colonies. 233 00:17:24.520 --> 00:17:29.080 But secretly, John had no intention of ever returning home to England. He wanted 234 00:17:29.080 --> 00:17:30.440 to sail away from England 235 00:17:30.440 --> 00:17:34.960 and start a new life in America. Back in 1656, 236 00:17:34.960 --> 00:17:38.320 Britain had no regard for your basic freedom. I mean, it was honestly a pretty 237 00:17:38.320 --> 00:17:39.240 miserable place. 238 00:17:39.240 --> 00:17:43.080 There were a series of civil wars from the 1640s on 239 00:17:43.080 --> 00:17:46.680 that left the country impoverished and chaotic, leading to the dictatorship of 240 00:17:46.680 --> 00:17:47.720 Oliver Cromwell. 241 00:17:48.240 --> 00:17:51.560 Cromwell, in theory, was supposed to be on the side of the commoners who wanted to 242 00:17:51.560 --> 00:17:53.000 limit the power of the monarchy. 243 00:17:53.000 --> 00:17:56.400 But after installing himself as Lord Protector 244 00:17:56.400 --> 00:18:00.720 in 1653, Cromwell turned out to be just as dangerous 245 00:18:00.720 --> 00:18:03.760 and autocratic as many of the tyrannical kings. 246 00:18:03.760 --> 00:18:06.760 Winston Churchill said he was worse. Here's his quote, 247 00:18:06.760 --> 00:18:10.360 The rule of Cromwell became hated as no government has ever been hated 248 00:18:10.360 --> 00:18:13.560 in England before or since. What was so 249 00:18:13.600 --> 00:18:17.880 bad about him? Well, he fought these costly, unnecessary wars of ego 250 00:18:17.880 --> 00:18:21.720 and he paid for it all by raising taxes far beyond his predecessors. 251 00:18:21.720 --> 00:18:26.720 Yet, despite the high taxes, he ran a massive budget deficit 252 00:18:26.720 --> 00:18:32.120 that further indebted the country. Cromwell was waging genocide against 253 00:18:32.120 --> 00:18:35.160 Irish Catholics while hypocritically preaching unity and 254 00:18:35.160 --> 00:18:39.320 tolerance. His administration jumped into bed with big business like the East 255 00:18:39.320 --> 00:18:41.080 India Company, which bribed him 256 00:18:41.080 --> 00:18:45.520 with the princely sum of 60,000 pounds, millions in today's money. 257 00:18:45.520 --> 00:18:50.160 He had over-regulated artisans. He over-regulated merchants and small 258 00:18:50.160 --> 00:18:51.040 shopkeepers. 259 00:18:51.040 --> 00:18:54.760 They were all going out of business while he was making money. He even confiscated 260 00:18:54.760 --> 00:18:56.880 property of those who couldn't prove 261 00:18:56.880 --> 00:19:02.320 that they had been loyal to him. It was this hatred for Cromwell that prompted 262 00:19:02.320 --> 00:19:03.640 countless people to flee 263 00:19:03.640 --> 00:19:07.400 England forever and John Washington was one of those guys. 264 00:19:07.400 --> 00:19:10.840 He settled in Virginia and had a family there. 265 00:19:11.160 --> 00:19:14.960 It wasn't easy. John owned this 50% interest in a ship that was named the 266 00:19:14.960 --> 00:19:15.560 Seahorse 267 00:19:15.560 --> 00:19:18.800 and his business partner of his was Edward Prescott. 268 00:19:18.800 --> 00:19:23.840 Their ship, loaded with tobacco, ran aground on the sandbar in Potomac River 269 00:19:23.840 --> 00:19:26.800 and it sank. That's 1657. 270 00:19:26.800 --> 00:19:30.440 It's not a real good start. So John, out the gate, owes Prescott 271 00:19:30.440 --> 00:19:34.080 money for half of the damages. He didn't have the money. 272 00:19:34.080 --> 00:19:37.640 But John had already made an influential friend, thankfully, 273 00:19:37.760 --> 00:19:41.560 by the name of Nathanael Pope. Pope offered John Washington 274 00:19:41.560 --> 00:19:45.880 a way to clear himself from Prescott. He gave Prescott beaver pelts 275 00:19:45.880 --> 00:19:50.920 to pay off John's debt. But that, of course, made John Washington indebted to Pope. 276 00:19:50.920 --> 00:19:54.560 Well, guess what happened? John Washington married Nathanael Pope's 277 00:19:54.560 --> 00:19:56.600 daughter, Anne, in 1658. 278 00:19:56.600 --> 00:19:59.600 Call it love, call it money, but that's what happened. 279 00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:05.160 Two years later, way before John Washington can pay Pope back, Pope dies. 280 00:20:05.160 --> 00:20:08.440 This had the happy result of canceling Washington's debt. 281 00:20:08.440 --> 00:20:12.240 So these Washingtons, man, they really are good at picking these wealthy women, noticing 282 00:20:12.240 --> 00:20:13.240 that. 283 00:20:13.240 --> 00:20:16.840 Anyways, he got 700 acres of land out of the deal. 284 00:20:16.840 --> 00:20:18.680 Let's give John some credit where credit is due, though. 285 00:20:18.680 --> 00:20:22.720 In a few short years, he had carved out a large estate in Westmoreland County, served 286 00:20:22.720 --> 00:20:29.080 as a vestryman of this parish in 1661, the Justice of the Peace in 1662, became a major 287 00:20:29.080 --> 00:20:33.040 in the militia, and then eventually he rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel, was elected 288 00:20:33.040 --> 00:20:34.400 to the House of Burgesses. 289 00:20:34.400 --> 00:20:43.000 So by 1668, Colonel Washington was busy growing tobacco on holdings that exceeded 5,000 acres. 290 00:20:43.000 --> 00:20:44.840 And Anne was cranking out babies. 291 00:20:44.840 --> 00:20:47.120 They had five children. 292 00:20:47.120 --> 00:20:51.080 Only three of them, though, lived to maturity, which was kind of common back then. 293 00:20:51.080 --> 00:20:54.800 And that same year, Anne died. 294 00:20:54.800 --> 00:20:57.560 No way was John going to raise three kids on his own. 295 00:20:57.560 --> 00:21:00.160 So John married again, to another Anne. 296 00:21:00.160 --> 00:21:03.440 I guess he just wanted to make sure that he never messed up when he called for her. 297 00:21:03.440 --> 00:21:07.120 Anyway, a few years later, his second wife died. 298 00:21:07.120 --> 00:21:08.680 Life was tough. 299 00:21:08.680 --> 00:21:13.560 Two kids and two wives died on him, but he picked himself up and married for the third 300 00:21:13.560 --> 00:21:15.560 time to Frances. 301 00:21:15.560 --> 00:21:18.080 She was the daughter of Dr. Thomas Gerard. 302 00:21:18.080 --> 00:21:20.200 She had previously been married three times. 303 00:21:20.200 --> 00:21:23.400 All those guys died on her, too. 304 00:21:23.400 --> 00:21:25.120 His eldest surviving son was Lawrence. 305 00:21:26.120 --> 00:21:29.320 I mean, it's not funny to them back then, but a lot of people were dying on you. 306 00:21:29.320 --> 00:21:30.320 His mom died. 307 00:21:30.320 --> 00:21:34.560 Lawrence's mom, the son of John, died when he was a child. 308 00:21:34.560 --> 00:21:36.120 Lawrence becomes a lawyer. 309 00:21:36.120 --> 00:21:39.520 He inherits 4,350 acres of prime land. 310 00:21:39.520 --> 00:21:44.160 2,500 of those acres later become known as Mount Vernon. 311 00:21:44.160 --> 00:21:46.480 His son is Augustine. 312 00:21:46.480 --> 00:21:51.760 Augustine Washington watched his father, Lawrence, die when he was just four. 313 00:21:51.760 --> 00:21:53.560 It's tough. 314 00:21:53.560 --> 00:21:56.800 His first wife died 13 years after they got married. 315 00:21:56.800 --> 00:22:00.440 His second wife was the mother of George Washington. 316 00:22:00.440 --> 00:22:02.400 So there you have it. 317 00:22:02.400 --> 00:22:08.040 Life wasn't so easy, even for those who navigated the economics of it pretty well. 318 00:22:08.040 --> 00:22:10.560 Every founder has a personal story. 319 00:22:10.560 --> 00:22:13.040 They all knew of Oliver Cromwell. 320 00:22:13.040 --> 00:22:15.600 Cromwell was supposed to be a good guy. 321 00:22:15.600 --> 00:22:20.040 He wasn't a king, and he wouldn't even take the title of king, and he dispatched of a 322 00:22:20.040 --> 00:22:21.040 bad king. 323 00:22:21.120 --> 00:22:26.040 But once he had total power, he restricted freedom and liberty too. 324 00:22:26.040 --> 00:22:31.480 That's why the founders were not very interested in a government that didn't have a very strong 325 00:22:31.480 --> 00:22:34.560 sense of checks and balances. 326 00:22:34.560 --> 00:22:39.280 Cromwell was responsible for the massacre of the garrisons and hundreds of civilians. 327 00:22:39.280 --> 00:22:44.440 In the four years following Cromwell's departure from Ireland, while he was still commander-in-chief, 328 00:22:44.440 --> 00:22:48.440 one-fifth of Ireland's population died as a result of the violence, the starvation, 329 00:22:48.440 --> 00:22:54.800 or the disease, and tens of thousands of civilians were transported to the Americas 330 00:22:54.800 --> 00:22:58.160 as indentured servants, white slaves. 331 00:22:58.160 --> 00:23:04.440 This was a systematic destruction of the infrastructure, agriculture, and people, and this was an act 332 00:23:04.440 --> 00:23:06.020 of deliberate policy. 333 00:23:06.020 --> 00:23:09.400 This was ethnic and religious hatred. 334 00:23:09.400 --> 00:23:15.560 Cromwell's legacy was to set England and Ireland on a collision course, a path of bitterness 335 00:23:15.640 --> 00:23:20.240 and violence that lasted for 300 years. 336 00:23:20.240 --> 00:23:25.680 So John Washington had the courage and the personal power to leave a brutal dictatorship 337 00:23:25.680 --> 00:23:31.000 behind for a place that had promise, at least the promise of a legit shot at liberty. 338 00:23:31.000 --> 00:23:37.720 And more than a century later, his great-grandson, George, helped found a new nation. 339 00:23:37.720 --> 00:23:43.000 What made America special is that freedom was established as a political right. 340 00:23:43.020 --> 00:23:48.600 When you became an American citizen, by birth, or legal immigration, you received the right 341 00:23:48.600 --> 00:23:50.080 to liberty. 342 00:23:50.080 --> 00:23:55.000 Most countries were established with a territory in mind, some conquest. 343 00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:57.960 America was established with an idea. 344 00:23:57.960 --> 00:24:00.160 So what is the idea of liberty? 345 00:24:00.160 --> 00:24:05.420 Well, it certainly includes the basic freedoms, the freedom to go where you want, to do what 346 00:24:05.420 --> 00:24:07.960 you want, and say what you want. 347 00:24:07.960 --> 00:24:11.240 Liberty also includes the social science concept of feeling free. 348 00:24:11.640 --> 00:24:15.520 In other words, the environment around you allows you to feel like most people in America 349 00:24:15.520 --> 00:24:18.240 have most of the time, free. 350 00:24:18.240 --> 00:24:20.240 Now, how did that come about? 351 00:24:20.240 --> 00:24:23.240 Well, after the Declaration came the Constitution. 352 00:24:23.240 --> 00:24:26.080 Soon after the Constitution came, the Bill of Rights came. 353 00:24:26.080 --> 00:24:27.720 And then you have the first 10 amendments. 354 00:24:27.720 --> 00:24:31.520 After that, other amendments, including the very important 13th and 14th amendments that 355 00:24:31.520 --> 00:24:34.960 more broadly articulated are freedom rights. 356 00:24:34.960 --> 00:24:39.040 But the three freedom rights from which all other freedom rights come are the right to 357 00:24:39.040 --> 00:24:42.700 life, the right to liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 358 00:24:42.700 --> 00:24:45.000 And today, we looked at the right to liberty. 359 00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:46.800 You have the right to free movement. 360 00:24:46.800 --> 00:24:50.040 The government can't ask you why you're going from one place to the next. 361 00:24:50.040 --> 00:24:51.920 Not their business. 362 00:24:51.920 --> 00:24:53.880 They shouldn't be tracking you. 363 00:24:53.880 --> 00:24:55.880 You have the right to work where you want. 364 00:24:55.880 --> 00:24:57.640 You have the right to marry whom you wish. 365 00:24:57.640 --> 00:25:00.040 You have the right to express yourself in any manner. 366 00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:05.600 you wish politically, religiously, as long as it's peaceable. In other words, assuming you're not 367 00:25:05.600 --> 00:25:10.720 using your right to liberty to impose restrictions on other people's freedom, your right to liberty 368 00:25:10.720 --> 00:25:16.560 means there should be no coercion on you at all. When there's freedom, you're not bullied to get 369 00:25:16.560 --> 00:25:20.560 on your knees. When there's freedom, you can believe what you want. You can worship in 370 00:25:20.560 --> 00:25:27.200 accordance with your beliefs and assemble with whom you choose. And there's no censorship. When 371 00:25:27.200 --> 00:25:32.640 there's freedom, you can rest assured that you can say what you want. No fear of reprisal. No 372 00:25:32.640 --> 00:25:39.520 censorship, big tech. You hearing that? No censorship. People came to America in search of 373 00:25:39.520 --> 00:25:45.520 liberty. They were looking for freedom from oppression, freedom from want, freedom to be 374 00:25:45.520 --> 00:25:52.240 ourselves. Now, I don't believe liberty is a ruthless, unbridled willpower. That's not freedom. 375 00:25:52.240 --> 00:25:58.080 We learned from past and current tyrants that unchecked license only allows the savage thugs 376 00:25:58.080 --> 00:26:04.400 the freedom to oppress everyone else. Liberty is the opposite of that. Liberty creates a safe place, 377 00:26:04.400 --> 00:26:11.520 a safe environment to rejoice when someone else achieves his or her aspirations. Do not 378 00:26:11.520 --> 00:26:19.360 let the radical left rob you. The hope of liberty for our nation is that it must be deep, deep in 379 00:26:19.360 --> 00:26:26.560 your heart. If you let liberty die, there's no law, no document, no court that can hold it up. 380 00:26:27.120 --> 00:26:34.320 Liberty must be preserved by those who have a belief in absolute truth. You are absolutely, 381 00:26:35.360 --> 00:26:43.040 absolutely given the right to liberty. Liberty should be expressed by you. Liberty is your 382 00:26:43.040 --> 00:26:48.960 God-given right. Liberty allows you to grow personally with a sense of humility, to honor 383 00:26:48.960 --> 00:26:53.680 an all-powerful God to your freedom. God bless you. 384 00:26:54.240 --> 00:27:00.080 Hi, I'm David Farah. Thank you for listening to my dad's podcast, The Barry Farah Show, 385 00:27:00.080 --> 00:27:05.760 Culture Shift. Click subscribe now to be sure you don't miss an episode. Share this podcast 386 00:27:05.760 --> 00:27:13.840 with your friends on social media and give The Barry Farah Show your five-star rating. See you next time.