Are you a risk-taker? Or are you risk-averse? The country is now ready to get back to work and making plans to do so. This depends on how serious COVID-19 has hit where you live. The slow rollout of a return to freedom includes social distancing, temperature taking, and testing. So, how are you doing with that? Most people here on Common Sense Civics and Citizenship were ready to return to freedom after 15 days to slow the spread, myself included. There are, however, Americans who fear catching the coronavirus and want us to shelter- in- place longer… indefinitely, some say.
Here, we don’t make decisions based on emotion. We make them based on law. If the law is bad, it needs to be changed. If there is no law, we freedom-loving citizens assess whether or not there is a need for a law. What seems to be missing is that freedom does not guarantee a no-risk proposition. In fact, freedom causes us to assess the pros and cons of any proposal and make decisions accordingly. (Do your elected officials operate out of emotion? Fear of losing power? Or by seeking what is in the best interest of We the People?
Americans have a history of not being wimpy. We stand up and are counted. Here are a few examples:
Our Founders pledged their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor when they declared independence from Britain. Search Paul Harvey’s “Our Lives, Our Fortunes, and Our Sacred Honor.” You will not be the same American after viewing or listening to that clip.
Our Founders took a risk when they declared that our rights come from God, not government. Check out the Declaration of Independence for a lesson on risk-taking.
When the Framers wrote and published the Constitution, they risked being hanged.
Even amongst dedicated American citizens, there was a great debate between liberty and order. Alexander Hamilton favored order over liberty. James Madison argued more for liberty than order. This involved risk. They took the risk, had the argument, and produced our Constitution. It has lasted over 230 years and is the envy of the world.
Even the simplest idea of keeping the newly written Constitution under wraps was a risk. George Washington, who presided over the Constitutional Convention, wrote:” Nothing spoken or written can be revealed to anyone — not even your family — until we have adjourned permanently. Gossip or misunderstanding can easily ruin all the hard work we shall have to do this summer.”
A return to freedom will require risk. The battle against any enemy -visible or invisible- involves risk. Are you ready to take the risk? I am.
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