I always thought one of the nifty things about living in America, as a citizen of these here United States, was the freedom to be ‘Me? or the freedom for you to be ‘You.? Carrying that notion a bit further, is the freedom to think, feel and express myself as I see fit. You can, too!
If somebody wants to be a jerk, there are consequences . . . that somebody will soon find themselves alone. If somebody is a bigot, racist, hate-mongering individual, they have the right. It matters not if I think they are right, wrong or a moron.
The caveat on those freedoms, in a word, is responsibility, or so I thought. I was always believed my freedoms end at the tip of your nose — where you and your rights start. In expressing myself, freely, I thought I should do so responsibly, with malice towards none. I can agree to disagree with somebody, but I shouldn’t try to destroy that somebody for not thinking like me.
I recently, ran across a statement from James Madison, who is often referred to as ‘The Father of The Constitution.? The statement was picked out of a speech he gave on June 8, 1789 during the Constitutional Convention. Representatives from all the states gathered in Philadelphia and hammered out what would become our Constitution, complete with Bill of Rights.
The quote: ‘The civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship, nor shall any national religion be established, nor shall the full and equal rights of conscience be in any manner, or on any pretext infringed.?
He later went on to say, ‘The people shall not be deprived or abridged of their right to speak, to write, or to publish their sentiments; and the freedom of the press, as one of the great bulwarks of liberty, shall be inviolable.?
And, ‘The people shall not be restrained from peaceably assembling and consulting for their common good, nor from applying to the legislature by petitions, or remonstrances for redress of their grievances.?
But, what got me thinking was the line about conscience.
Dictionary.com defines conscience as, ‘the inner sense of what is right or wrong in one’s conduct or motives, impelling one toward right action . . the complex of ethical and moral principles that controls or inhibits the actions or thoughts of an individual.?
Delegates of the Constitutional Convention, obviously did not include the “conscience” part of Madison’s arguments into the Bill of Rights. So, why then did I always have this notion I could think what I wanted to think — that it was my right as an American?
Where did that come from?
I always made the assumption politicians could not legislate ‘thought.? As I have had the privilege of aging, I have learned — little by little — that I must have always been wrong.
Politicians have passed ‘hate? legislation. So, for example, if I murdered somebody I would be deemed doubly bad and punished extra if the government says I did that murder with hate in my heart. I always thought that law was more or less placating to the feel good folks. I always assumed murder is murder and it is an infringement on another’s right of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Period.
Again, I was wrong. What was I thinking? Of course politicians can legislate conscience, because they did! I can only assume as the ages march on, more and more legislation will be aimed at individual’s thoughts and beliefs.
Soon it will be unlawful to believe anything that can (even remotely) upset anybody else. Mark my words, there will be — with the aid of science and technology — thought police in the future. There will be no dissenting thoughts. The arena of ideas will be closed, locked shut and the key thrown away.
This will come about because we Americans will have forgone the notions of civil discourse. We will continue down our destructive path of believing, ‘you are either with me all the way, 100 percent of the time, or you are my enemy.?
And, because we cannot act civilly towards each other, our politicians will act for us, on our behalf. (Of course.)
Here’s a question for you. What if the Founding Fathers had, indeed, adopted Madison’s call for full and equal rights of conscience?
What would that mean? How would that have influenced the course of this nation? Drop me a line, Don@ShermanPublications.org