Why did so many people leave home and country to sail in small wind-powered ships across uncharted seas to reach a country with little knowledge of what they would find when they arrived? Edmund Burke, a late 18th-century Irish statesman and philosopher, concluded that it was “the spirit of liberty.” He was right? Yes, because nobody wants to be chained, silenced or coerced. The spirit of freedom of free people is what makes America beautiful.
Being enslaved is not something that we Americans can understand. We were born free and live each day as men and women without restrictions. We say what we think, we go where we want, we do what we like, we pray the way we prefer and, at the same time, we respect the laws of man and God.
Liberty’s brave predecessors (Abraham Lincoln called them “ancestors”) knew slavery, suppression, and servitude firsthand.
At the beginning of the 17th century, a small group of pilgrims decided to live free or die. They boarded the Mayflower, a small ship with a crew of 30 and 102 passengers, and headed for an uncharted and unstable land. They brought only a few possessions, but maintained a generous faith and an overflowing thirst for freedom. Their journey across the Atlantic took 66 days from their departure on September 6 until they reached Cape Cod on November 9, 1620.
Imagine stepping off that crowded little boat and realizing, “What? No Holiday Inn?” The pilgrims had to find food and water and literally make their own bed. Their arrival in November meant they faced a harsh winter unprepared in which half of them died. That is freedom, and it is not easy.
All people are born with a spirit of freedom. Ask anyone anywhere what they would prefer: someone who plans every aspect of their life or who they want to be?
Emma Lazarus, the Jewish activist and writer of the poem inscribed on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty, makes Lady Liberty refer to “the huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” The “longing” is divinely infused into each of God’s children. More than 180 times, the word free and variations of the word (liberty, freely, etc.) can be found in the Bible. The psalmist exclaimed: “Out of my distress I called on the Lord; the Lord answered me and delivered me.” (Psalm 118:5 NIV)
I remember joining Andy Williams in singing enthusiastically, “Born free, as free as the wind blows, as free as the grass grows, born free to follow your heart.” As he sang it, I felt Emma Lazarus’ longing, the Pilgrims’ thirst for freedom, and gratitude for all who sacrificed so I could live free.
This spirit of freedom makes America beautiful, but it can be lost. Suppose we allow an ever-expanding government to suppress our speech, restrict our religion, control our movement, twist our history, cancel our culture, and saddle our grandchildren with debt. In that case, our (your) freedom will become slavery, and America will no longer be beautiful.
The Spirit of Liberty is expensive and demanding, but the alternative is terrifying. The late great broadcaster, Paul Harvey, said, “After 4,000 years, the elusive eagle of individual freedom has been captured and placed in our hands.” God help us keep America beautiful.