“Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government’s purposes are beneficial. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by
evil-minded rulers. The greater dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.” — Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, Olmstead v. United States

Driven by tyranny, persecution and poverty, millions braved the oceans in the 19th century to come to the United States for the promise of freedom and an opportunity to make their lives better through hard work and ingenuity. The nation was the first in history founded on the principle people are entitled to pursue their own values.

The story of the United States is the story of economic and political miracles made possible by the transformation into practice of two sets of ideas published in 1776. Milton and Rose Friedman explained this in their book “Free to Choose.” One set of ideas was embodied in “The Wealth of Nations” by Adam Smith, a Scotsman known as the father of modern economics. The other set of ideas was embodied in the Declaration of Independence drafted by Thomas Jefferson.

The Friedmans credited Smith with analyzing the way a market system could combine the freedom of individuals to pursue their own objectives with cooperation. Smith’s key insight was that both parties to an exchange can benefit.
So long as cooperation remains strictly voluntary, no exchange will take place unless both parties benefit.

Jefferson expressed the general sense of his fellow countrymen in writing in the Declaration of Independence, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

According to the Friedmans, economic freedom is a requisite for political freedom. By enabling people to cooperate without coercion or central direction, it reduces the area over which political power is exercised. “The combination of economic and political power in the same hands is a sure recipe for tyranny.”

Tyranny is defined as an unreasonable and arbitrary use of power or control. What about banning incandescent light bulbs, gas stoves, ovens and plastic grocery bags? What about mandating a tenfold increase in sales of electric vehicles? What about arbitrarily denying the production of clean, affordable and reliable energy?

What do you call a nation that destroys jobs and imposes virtue signaling regulations on its citizens while making its enemies stronger? The word tyrannical comes to mind.

America has been the shining beacon of light on the hill — for the freedom to maximize an individual’s potential and the standard of living that resulted from individual freedoms and a free market economy. The excessive government control imposed on Americans today exerts a deadening effect on the economy and the personal freedoms of its citizens.

Will America stop the slide into the world of tyranny in which other countries suffer? At what point will it be too late?