Jefferson and the Libya Freedom Fighters

John Locke, the great 18th century philosopher who gave to the world the ideas that have made many people free and all others wish to be, was clear about government. He wrote that government derives its power from the consent of the governed and that no government that rules by coercion can be respected. He noted that men are by nature free and have the right to liberty, health and property.

People’s property, wrote Locke, should be the result of their work, that through work they are able to accumulate sufficient property to care for themselves and their family, and that government should be authorized by its citizens to take from them only what is needed to preserve their liberties and property.

Jefferson, Madison and all the American revolutionary leaders were students of Locke, as was the most part of Europe, which was in the 18^th century struggling against despotic kings.

The American Declaration of Independence is full of Locke’s principles concerning liberty and freedom from tyranny. Its ringing call to liberty is almost a quote from Locke: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

Jefferson wrote to Madison in 1787, while the new Constitution was being debated that, “The people are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.”

But, as all the patriots of the American Revolution had experienced, Jefferson was sensible to the principle that liberty is not easily either won or preserved. They had just come through a bitter and physically exhausting war against England, at that time the most powerful empire on earth.

Washington had seen his soldiers die for want of food, clothes and heat during the terrible winter at Valley Forge. Some of those men wanted to go home and forget the Revolution, but Washington’s great presence made them hold on. Help began to trickle in and by spring 1778, with the training given by a Prussian volunteer officer, Washington’s troops were ready to fight and win.

Later, Jefferson wrote : “The ground of liberty is to be gained by inches and we must be contented to secure what we can get, from time to time, and eternally press forward for what is yet to get. It takes time to persuade men to do even what is for their own good.”

Today, we are watching brave men and women fight for their freedom in Libya. Freedom is not for cowards. It is the victory over indifference and fear.

 But, as Thomas Jefferson said : “The god who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time: the hand of force may destroy, but cannot disjoin them.”

The people of Libya are marching today through the great divide from slavery to freedom. Let all of us pray for them and do what we can, little as it may be, to insure their success.