It has been a strange few years: around the world we have seen the reach of governments grow. Whether we agree or disagree with the specific justifications for the expansion of government, we simply cannot deny that virtually every government in the world has tried to expand its reach over the past several years. In some cases we all acceded to these; but whether the intention was for good or ill, the results have been the same: we have seen the reach of governments grow. And she have grown a very great deal.

In some places the, Hong Kong, for example, we have watched as a once vibrant, and very free city was crushed under what can only be called a tyrannical government.

Yet, there is always hope.

A number of years ago I found myself in the city of Dili. The city was a ruin. There was still sniping going on here and there, and the level of destruction was nothing short of breathtaking. In the city and across the small island (about the size of the state of Connecticut) less than 1% of the buildings were left standing – literally. All had been burned down. And as they departed, the Indonesian Army burned virtually every single piece of paper in the country; every building and every house (there were a handful of exceptions) was ransacked and burned: every deed, every book, every magazine, every title, every marriage certificate, birth certificate, death certificate, diploma or degree, every piece of currency turned into ash. And the people had been brutalized.

Yet, as some friends of mine and I walked through the city the people would come out and smile and shake our hands… And they told us why: they were free. And we earned a lesson on respect: we had been told to wear a colored – as opposed to subdued – US flag on our shoulders. Everyone recognized that flag. And loved and respected that flag. With that flag the little kids came out and took our hands. And the UN flags? They were what the snipers were aiming at.

We have all been captivated by the Ukrainian response to the attempted Russian conquest; they have fought back with skill, with daring, with heart. They have stood up to the would-be tyrant and refused to go quietly into the night. Their cities are being ground down into rubble; their nation’s economy is falling apart, one-quarter of the population has already been displaced, and more will follow.

The Russian army appears to have settled into that tactic that they seem to have mastered in the past, in places like Grozny, or in Syria, or in a number of spots in Eastern Europe and Germany during WWII: they are using artillery to reduce the cities. But the Ukrainians grasp what the people of East Timor grasped, and what we seem to have forgotten: liberty, true freedom, is worth far more than any amount of money.

Year after year we have watched as our independence, and even our jobs, slipped away so that a certain few countries, the Peoples Republic of China in particular, could develop, so that they might grow richer. If we would just give them a bit more we were told, we have to understand how they feel, we have to see things from their perspective.

Meanwhile, their predatory economics continued, their strong-arming of their neighbors continued, their attempts to seize the South China Sea, their efforts to take control of the entire Himalaya water shed and turn it into a political weapon, their seven-decade long occupation of Tibet, the slow, painful eradication of the Uighurs… as well as the economic subjugation of certain sectors of our economy, all these things continued, all were given a “pass,” they all accelerated year by year, because we were told by the elites – who grew rich in the telling – that eventually they will love us for it, in their own way.

Now, we are once again dependent on others for our energy, for many of our consumer goods, for much of our clothing, even for technology that was developed in the United States.

What have we done? Did we sell our independence for a larger flat screen TV, a better cell phone, and designer T-shirts?

Have we reached a point that we need to relearn what Liberty means? Do we need to take some lessons from the citizens of Hong Kong? The people of East Timor? From Ukrainian farmers?

A famous Virginian once addressed a similar situation. In fact, 247 years ago this Wednesday. Before a meeting at St. John’s Church in Richmond he asked:

I know of no way of judging the future but by the past. And judging by the past, I wish to know what there has been in the conduct of the… ministry for the last ten years to justify those hopes with which gentlemen have been pleased to solace themselves and the House. Is it that insidious smile with which our petition has been lately received?

Then he asked:

We have held the subject up in every light of which it is capable; but it has been all in vain. Shall we resort to entreaty and humble supplication? What terms shall we find which have not been already exhausted?

He finished with this Question:

Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?

And then he answered it… How are we going to answer it?

Copyright 2022 Arrias
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