Born of Freedom

Jacques Maritain (1882-1973) was a great moral and political philosopher of the twentieth century who wrote and spoke extensively about the threats that secularism, materialism and coercive social engineering by state authorities pose to the democratic experiment. From a Jacques Maritain compendium edited by James P. Kelly III:

The American body politic is the only one that was fully and explicitly born of freedom, of the free determination of men to live together and work together at a common task. And in this new political creation, men who belonged to various national stocks and spiritual lineages and religious creeds – and whose ancestors had fought the bitterest battles against one another – have freely willed to live together in peace, as free men under God, pursuing the same temporal and terrestrial common good.

Freedom is not a celestial condition received once and for all, and to be simply enjoyed. Freedom is perpetually threatened by new obstacles and perils arising from new situations in the process of time. It must be perpetually defended and improved; it must be a new conquest and creation for each generation. It permits no inertia, no passivity, no rest. It must be unceasingly regenerated by the life-breath of a free people, and so it is one with this very life breath.[1]

This French Catholic philosopher, Jacques Maritain, recognized that the great American experiment must be defended at every turn. Avarice and ambition, man’s tendency to abuse power for personal enrichment is active in all governments at all times. By comparison, lady liberty is somnolent. If never awakened, she will eventually die in her sleep. We have been insufficiently covetous of liberty and free government; precious little time remains.

Through Article V the sovereign American people can regularly nudge lady liberty awake, and together we can amend our form of government to secure freedom.

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1. Maritain, Jacques. Christianity, Democracy, and the American Ideal. Edited by James P. Kelly III, Manchester, NH: Sophia Institute Press, 2004, page ix.