Freedom has always come with a price. In lives lost and injured ? and in money spent to maintain and equip an army.
The fact that generation after generation of Americans willingly go to war to defend our country speaks to the quality of our lives. So does the fact that we dutifully pay taxes to support our troops and those who make the decision to send them.
Freedom is not defined solely by freedom from outside domination, however.
It also relates to how free we are from dominationby our own government.
The Founders did not want to break with England only to battle a new monarchy at home. They wanted to define a new system of government that allowed individuals, not those in power, to choose how to live their lives. They mistakenly did not include everyone in that vision, but they rightly set limits on the size and scope of government.
We have not been so diligent in defending those limits.
In Maryland, we have often welcomed federal intrusion in the form of the obligations that accompany federal grants and, in a more immediate sense, in jobs and direct payments.
Maryland ranks fourth of all states on a per person basis for the amount of federal funds coming to it, according to the 2006 Statistical Abstract of the United States. Only the District of Columbia, Alaska and Virginia receive more money per capita.
And most of the money is not directed toward defense. Of the nearly $58 billion the federal government directed to Maryland in 2003 (the most recent figures), more than $46 billion funded nondefense projects, wages and programs.
That money helps to make Maryland home to the third-highest median income in the United States. Federal jobs are good-paying jobs. The average weekly wage for federal government workers was $1,468 during the last quarter of 2005. By comparison, private sector workers earned $886 per week in that time period.
So as we contemplate what it means to be free this weekend, we might want to consider whether we have traded freedom for comfort.
Are we the weak who the Grand Inquisitor in Fyodor Dostoevsky?s “The Brothers Karamazov” wants to save from freedom?
The Grand Inquisitor berates Christ for making people exercise free will to choose him. He argues free will is too much of a burden for most people. People want security more than salvation. To correct for Christ?s mistakes, the church tells people what to think and believe. People lose their freedom in exchange for security and happiness ? for “miracle, mystery and authority.”
