In 1689 John Locke described the natural state of man as “a state of perfect freedom to order their actions, and dispose of their possessions and persons, as they think fit, within the bounds of the law of nature, without asking leave, or depending upon the will of any other man.”
Three hundred twenty-eight years later, as we mark the anniversary of his birth this week, Locke’s words remain essential. A collective that does not respect dissent or difference, and insists on dismissive labels, is intolerant and antithetical to the idea of individual liberty.
There is certainly room for intellectual debate about the many historical and political origins of the Civil War. But there is no escaping the fact that many of its historic symbols were erected as statements to support Jim Crow laws, or to oppose civil rights. These monuments were not all benign tributes to fallen Confederate soldiers.
There is also no escaping that the political party supporting such ideology in the early and mid-1900s was the Democratic Party. But to attempt to cast all Democrats as racists would be just as dishonest as to cast all Southerners as bigots.
No matter how much regret we may have about parts of our past, institutionally or personally, any attempt to revise, remove, or destroy historic facts does not change those events. Going back in time is not an option. And judging the past through today’s lens is no simple feat.
That’s why we have to reject the notion that forcibly tearing down or removing historic plaques, statues, and monuments, including those related to the Confederacy, is an act of unity and tolerance. The Left is now marching swiftly, aligned with all sorts of interesting groups including majoritarian mobs, to dutifully purge public spaces of symbols it finds offensive, with or without lawful sanction. This is not tolerance, and it will not produce unity. Mob censorship of historic symbols is a not-too-distant relative of censoring speech and burning books.
The progressives’ message is clear here. In their view, if you are not on board with removing such symbols, it is proof that you must be a hater with racial animus. The progressives leave no room for complexity, context or individual opinion. We are in a new world where the individual must, through definitions ascribed by the Left, belong to a group. It is a disturbing state of affairs. When the collective’s viewpoint must be given preference over the individual perspective, we’ve lost the understanding of what it means to have individual liberty. Locke would not be pleased.
To vacate the facts and the truth of our history, or any history, is to retard the growth and possibilities of the future. If we don’t fully understand our nation’s past, how do we know when and if we’ve made progress? We don’t have to like what happened in the past or be proud of it, but we do have to acknowledge it — especially if we want our kids and grandkids to improve on the republic we leave to them.
In North Carolina, we’ve been watching the mobs grow. At first, it was the tearing down of a Confederate memorial in Durham. Then it was the defacing and removal of a Robert E. Lee bust at the Duke University Chapel. Now activists are surrounding a Confederate statue on the campus at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The decision to remove symbols or to relocate them to museums or cemeteries should be a deliberative one.
What we’ve seen from leaders across the country has been anything but thoughtful. Mostly what we’ve seen is timidity, opportunism, and political correctness. Giving in to the pressures of a hysterical mob is no sign of virtue. And when all the Confederate statues are removed or relocated and critics raise objections to other historic symbols, the meek leaders of our universities, cities, counties, and states will have only themselves to blame for the mob’s unquenchable thirst – and for ignoring the brilliant words and thoughts of John Locke.
Jon L. Pritchett (@tobaccoroadguy) is senior vice president of the John Locke Foundation.
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