Author Archive

Center for Self Governance

The Language of Liberty series is a collaborative effort of the Center for Self Governance (CSG) Administrative Team. CSG is a non-profit, non-partisan educational organization, dedicated to training citizens in applied civics. The authors include administrative staff, selected students, and guest columnists. The views expressed by the authors are their own and may not reflect the views of CSG. To learn more, go to CenterForSelfGovernance.com.

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For months, Americans were told to do what Dr. Anthony Fauci said. We shut down businesses and churches, locked up schools, and wore masks. Now, 800-pages of redacted emails later, the country’s finding out that the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases hardly believed a word …

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Our contemporary American experience seems often Orwellian. We have a Congress that denies our Rights in the name of security. We have a judiciary that often denies the Constitution and violates it by asserting a power to make law. Many patriots have expended a great deal of energy this year …

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Before the Constitution, America’s national government operated under the Articles of Confederation, which was a flawed document that went through numerous attempted fixes. In September 1786, delegates from five states met in the Annapolis Convention as part of these efforts. At the end of that convention, they called for a …

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One of the most important differences between the Left and the Right is how each regards the role and the size of the government. The Left believes that the state should be the most powerful force in society. Among many other things, the government should be in control of educating …

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The social contract of Life, Liberty, and Property, derived from the Bible and defined for us by famed philosopher John Locke, is the legal foundation to a free society. Without it, a free society falters into corruption, tyranny, despair, and eventually failure. The perversion and abuse of this social contract …

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John Locke’s writings did much to inspire the American Revolution. A number of times throughout history, tyranny has stimulated breakthrough thinking about liberty. This was certainly the case in England with the mid-17th-century era of repression, rebellion, and civil war. There was a tremendous outpouring of political pamphlets and tracts. …

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America was established upon the principles of Liberty. James Madison said wrote in 1792: “Conscience is the most sacred of all property; other property depending in part on positive law, the exercise of that, being a natural and unalienable right. To guard a man’s house as his castle, to pay …

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A good case can be made that the Eighth Commandment, “Do Not Steal,” is the one commandment that encompasses all the others. How does “Do Not Steal” encompass the other commandments? Murder is the stealing of another person’s life. Adultery is the stealing of another person’s spouse. Coveting is the …

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Do we realize how important and essential property ownership is to Liberty? Our founders knew how essential property ownership was to every inherent right. We must understand the proper definition of Property to know its necessity to Liberty. Property isn’t just the place where you hang your hat. It isn’t just the …

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The economic concept of private property refers to the rights owners have to the exclusive use and disposal of a physical object. Property is not a table, a chair, or an acre of land. It is the bundle of rights which the owner is entitled to employ those objects. The …