Freedoms are not free

On this day, the 3rd of December, being the anniversary of the Battle of the Eureka Stockade, we are reminded that freedoms are not free. That was the case in 1854, and it is still true today.

When we envisage threats to our freedoms we often think of external threats from outside of our country, such as from Chinese Communism, German Fascism, or Japanese Imperialism; however, in actual fact, the biggest threats to our liberties come from the machinations of people within our own country, whether it be from Cultural Marxists, the Woke Left, unfeeling Conservatives, or bureaucratic authoritarianism.

The most common excuses for taking away our freedoms are “it’s for your own good” or “it’s for your own safety”; indeed, every dictator in history has had “good reasons” for what they do, and it’s usually “for the good of the people”. That is why every democracy needs to have as many checks and balances as possible upon those who wield power, to protect the liberties of the people.

Some might think that we don’t need to worry about our freedoms in this modern day and age, but they would be dead wrong. The governmental response to the Covid-19 situation was a case in point: Night-time curfews (just like Communist Russia), forcing people to have experimental vaccinations, the censoring and silencing of doctors who dissented from the government narrative, shutting down businesses (causing bankruptcies, economic devastation, and suicides), the separation of families, isolation of the elderly, the demonisation of a non-approved group (labelling non-vaccinated people as a health threat), using police to attack and assault protestors, and the normalisation of digital health surveillance (and normalising government surveillance in general).

Australian governments (state and federal) have brought in laws which curtail freedom of speech, enshrine corruption in the political process (giving special benefits to the ruling parties in the electoral laws), steal people’s firearms (under colour of law), along with a myriad of other unwanted and unnecessary infringements on the liberties of the people.

The American statesman Benjamin Franklin once wrote “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety”.

In the context of Australia, the most egregious threats to our liberties come from politicians and bureaucrats, with the Woke Left and out-of-control bleeding hearts often being the worst instigators of ideas to curtail and remove our freedoms (hand-in-hand with the mainstream media and social media apparatchiks).

Australia needs a common-sense Charter of Rights to protect the rights and freedoms of the people from politicians and bureaucrats, along with a widespread system of independent checks and balances upon all those who wield government-backed power — only then will we have a decent chance for true liberty.

References:
Regarding the Benjamin Franklin quotation:
Benjamin Wittes argues that Benjamin Franklin actually wrote this quote regarding the rights of political legislators; although other writers, such as Leya Delray, dispute Wittes’ interpretation; nonetheless, either way, it is still a very good quote regarding the personal freedoms of people versus governments.

Benjamin Wittes, “What Ben Franklin Really Said”, Lawfare, 15 July 2011
Leya Delray, “A quote in context – What did Franklin really think about Liberty and Safety?”, Leya Delray, 4 May 2020
“TIL Ben Franklin’s quote about liberty and safety isn’t really what people think it’s about and was actually a pro-taxation statement about the ability of the government to tax the Penn family to provide frontier defense during the French and Indian War”, Reddit [Posted in the “Today I Learned” (TIL) section]
“Pennsylvania Assembly: Reply to the Governor, 11 November 1755”, Founders Online [A letter to Governor Morris from a parliamentary committee (which included Benjamin Franklin), which contains the quote “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”]
“Benjamin Franklin on the trade off between essential liberty and temporary safety (1775)”, The Online Library of Liberty [Includes a 1775 variation, by Benjamin Franklin, of the 1755 quote: “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”]