Often, I find incredibly insightful quotes in the most unexpected places. In a movie-documentary on Netflix entitled “Testament: The Story of Moses,” Bishop Andy C Lewter, historian at the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship, said, “What it takes to get free is different from what it takes to stay free.” Freedom often comes through revolution, violence, frustration with an oppressive status quo, or an eruption of pent up, delayed, and denied hopes. Two of the most difficult questions liberated people face are what to do with their new-found freedom and how to maintain that freedom.
I suggest those two questions are especially pertinent for us as a nation this July 4th. After the Constitutional Convention of 1787, Elizabeth Willing Powel asked Benjamin Franklin what kind of government the Founding Fathers had chosen for this new nation. Franklin replied, “A republic if you can keep it.”
Today, we are at a loss as to how to keep the freedom we purportedly claim to cherish. We have always struggled with the allocation of freedom in this country. At the birth of our nation, freedom was denied to women (½ of the population), Indigenous persons, slaves (most of whom were Black), and those who did not own land. Slowly and excruciatingly, we have “shared” freedom with those who have been historically disenfranchised (although one could argue that such sharing is still denied in more subtle and sinister ways to various groups for the benefit of the wealthy and powerful).
But the question remains, “What shall we do with our freedom?” The Preamble to our Constitution begins, “We the people, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution of the United States of America.”
Of course, this Preamble expressed a hope and dream we must constantly seek to flesh out in our nation. I am struck by the collective nature of this dream. Note such words as “We the people, union, justice, domestic tranquility, common, general welfare, ourselves and our posterity, and united.” The very phrase “In order to form a more perfect union” assumes that if freedom is to be realized, it must be not only maintained but also enhanced and perfected. There is behind these noble words a constant theme pointing toward “the common good.”
What I suggest is that we have never truly learned or embraced the truth of one of freedom’s most ardent champions, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr: “No one is free until we are all free.” Despite our exalted claims, this has never been “the land of the free.” Even the freedom of our “Founding Fathers” had less to do with freedoms denied by King George III and more to do with the economic advantages wealthy colonists assumed they could enjoy if they controlled the New World. With some noble exceptions, we have used our freedom to pursue and obtain individual wealth and status at the expense of the common good. A byproduct of such narcissism has been an individualism which ensures the destruction of a society unconcerned with its “general welfare.” Freedom in the USA has been defined by those with power in economic terms which have disregarded legitimate concerns for the freedom of all.
As a result of such a focus, we increasingly find ourselves living in a materialistic story which has no space for transcendent values like goodness, beauty, and freedom for all. Of course, those who are denied legitimate freedom must do all they can to obtain such “inalienable rights in the pursuit of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” However, those of us who possess such freedom must never forget the interdependence such liberty requires. And those of us who profess to follow Jesus must incarnate the very love and compassion required for the attainment and maintenance of the common good.
In November of 2024, “we the people” must make a historical choice. During my seventy-five years on this earth, the American electorate has never faced a more critical decision. We will choose between a return to bigotry, misogyny, plutocracy, and oppression or a renewed embrace of freedom, democracy, justice, compassion, and the common good. #45 is the epitome of the narcissism, greed, fear, bigotry, and delusion which have resulted from the bankruptcy of our materialistic, dishonest, and self-serving culture. Bishop Lewter is prophetically correct. What was required to obtain the freedom we purport to celebrate is not what will be required to maintain such liberty. Nations, like people, must mature to survive and thrive. This fall, we will decide whether we shall become a disjointed conglomeration of spoiled brats who are only concerned about themselves and their kind or a people who truly value the common good. Much of the world and all our posterity await this monumental decision.
