250 Years of Freedom

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This morning, every American woke up with a smile, for
we won the World Cup match. But we also woke
up with a given that by virtue of where we are,
beneficiaries of the human lottery, we have freedoms found nowhere
else in the world. Now, whether we use those freedoms
or not is again up to us, not a government official,

(00:22):
not a law passed or empirical decree, but the guy
or gal in the mirror gets to decide. We should
also remember that those freedoms were not self granted, nor
have we protected them for ourselves. How did it all happen?
And what is the condition of the experiment today? Two
hundred and fifty years ago, some remarkably brave and courageous men,

(00:43):
wealthy men, educated men, comfortable men, gambled in all against
the tallest of odds to preserve for the generations to
come what we have today. What drove them well aspiration.
They had grown tired of preserving history, so they sought
to make history. For since the beginning of organized human existence,

(01:06):
all peoples had lived under the singular rule of a despot,
a dictator, a king, or a potentate. They were bullies, tyrants,
and thugs. But here the framers, fathers of our country,
imagined an exception. Let's have a country where the leaders
govern at the consent of the governed, not hold dominion

(01:27):
over it. Even today in most corners of the earth,
our democratic and republican form of government is very much
the exception. In their minds, this would be an experiment,
and knowing we'd have to fight for it, fight for
the right to live free, dependent not on the government
but ourselves, sovereignty would lie with the people. Talk about

(01:48):
a radical idea. It was a miracle. These were wise men.
They knew this sharing of power required thoughtful organization. We
must create a system that excludes but also empowers no
one here. Their dream was to build a society and
a nation where you would be rewarded not for who

(02:08):
you are, but what you did. If we are to
have self rule, we must have self discipline, limit power,
check it, balance it. Each branch of government would have
a voice, and that voice would stop a majority mob,
be a source for good. They understood this was a
long game. Their experiment would have to evolve. Our leaders

(02:31):
would make poor choices, They'd have wrongs that would need
to be righted, So they put in place a process
for change. We know that process as amendments to our
Constitution two hundred and fifty years later. It worked out,
But my goodness, imagine their sleepless nights those first years.
Freedom was such a powerful urge those fathers were convicted

(02:53):
in its pursuit. They forged ahead against so many doubts
and fears, risked everything to build a country not based
on blood and soil, but on ideals. History also records
from those early patriots through our men and women in uniform,
those ideas and ideals were more than worth the fight.

(03:14):
They didn't know this question at the time, but has
it persisted for these two and a half centuries. Have
you asked yourself, why do millions from the world over
want to come to America? Because here anybody can become
anything if they believe in themselves. Is it history's most
noteworthy experiment? Is it sustainable? At birth? It didn't respect

(03:37):
the rights of all women, children, minorities, Indigenous peoples were
not protected, but one day each were Are those rights
in place today or have we bowed to an insurgency
of government intrusion under the guise of protections. Maybe not.
Since the Civil War has our nation been so divided
on the basic concept of the experiment. We are living

(03:59):
in a moment of profound transition, and it says to
me that we are in a time when the original
debates among our country's fathers could be most profoundly relevant. Today,
our capacity to overcome adversity, to find our way out
of despair is under great stress. History records We've done it.

(04:21):
Can we do it again? Can we find a way
when there appears to be no way? It's for what
they bargained that if we all agree preserving freedom is paramount,
we will too. Let's start there.