What Does Liberty Mean?

Adventures In Songwriting at Plymouth Rock

Given the state of our political system and the route of my most recent tour, I had a number of songs get a bit political. It certainly wasn’t the first time, and I certainly looked for ways to write about something else, but sometimes I can only write about what’s staring me right in the face. Such was the case when I went through Plymouth, Massachusetts in September. 

I had been cycling through the major keys, and after writing songs in Stuart’s Draft and Clifton Forge VA, Washington DC, Wilmington DE, Philadelphia PA, Providence, RI, and Mystic CT, I was back to the key of A. I came up with a chord progression that I listened to as I visited Plymouth Rock, a replica of the Mayflower, the National Monument to the Forefathers, and Cemetery Hill. As I walked among the gravestones and considered what drew the Pilgrims to the New World, the word “liberty” kept bouncing around in my mind, and I wondered what the Founders would think of the system we’ve cultivated. 

Here are we in the land of the free
And we find ourselves between
The festivities of two parties
Have divided our country

What would the Founders think of our two party system? After so many settlements eventually begat fifty different states, would they think that having only two choices between two corporate controlled organizations could be considered liberty? Given the mythos of the first Thanksgiving and the good graces that made it possible, what would they think of the vitriol we’ve cultivated over our battle between Left and Right?

Maybe we could look inwardly
And not react so bitterly
We can always see things differently
And use civility

The National Monument to the Founding Fathers is actually comprised of five different statues. In addition to Liberty, the other three statues around the base are Morality, Law, and Education, with Faith riding high in the middle. Granted, the Founders based their understandings of all of these notions on their biblical tradition, but for those in this day and age who have lost their faith, or for those who have transcended the Judeo-Christian version of faith, is liberty still connected to morality, law, and education?

It's our responsibility to ask ourselves honestly
And see where we agree
What does it mean when we say Liberty
And what does it mean to be free

There are some these days, especially those who are still of the religious ilk, who still believe that morality should be legislated, and that individual liberty should be limited. However, it is often the same people who believe that corporations should have no restrictions at all and should be able to use whatever practices they wish in pursuit of generating profits. Whose freedoms should government be more concerned with protecting, those of actual human individuals (real people) or those of the corporations (who are now also considered people though they possess no heart, mind, body, or spirit)?

Our species has proven to be
People who live creatively
There's the possibility for much more synergy
If we look beyond our periphery

The human people have done amazing things in our pursuit of a better world, and while much can be said about the power of competition used by both real people and corporate people, there's nothing like the power of cooperation real people are capable of. If we're actually interested in continuing on in our protection of the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, we need to start looking beyond our own limited vantage points and toward how we continue to make these noble virtues available to all people, especially the other human ones.

Do we need such volatility
And tend to such extremes
When you and me could work collectively
And to try a new routine

Under the Law statue at the Monument are two reliefs highlighting Justice and Mercy. Although the Pilgrims' worldview was based on biblical authority and some holdovers may say that all of the problems in the world are due to people not following biblical standards, it is still a good idea to remember both sides to what they thought of the character of God. While many today stand righteously firm in their appeals for justice, we would be wise to also remember and live out the virtue of mercy, which is why the teachings of Jesus lifted up forgiveness as one of the greatest superpowers we could possibly yield.

There's no great need for wizardry
To escape our captivity
We have the capability
To see synchronicity
If we act proactively

In this age of cancel culture and book bans, it is essential that we ask ourselves what liberty is really all about. It doesn't seem to me that banning and criminalizing things do much to usher in a great deal of freedom. What if we were to guide our government toward activities that actually benefit the entirety of the populace rather than merely the fringe groups who seem so intent on controlling the behavior of others in order to stifle their fears of what they don’t understand? Or at least on a more personal level, we could move beyond the arguments they manufacture.

Maybe we don't need to be so bleak
And dwell in morbidity
There's serendipity
When we work collaboratively
And see past their trickery

There are plenty of people in America who see past the ruse of the two party system and realize it as the tool for dumbing down America that it is. We've had plenty of independently minded folks who've never felt represented by the two nonprofit corporations that we've allowed to write the rules for our legislative bodies, and that number is growing every day. It's encouraging to see the discussion of Ranked Choice Voting becoming more popular, and while most Americans can't even consider the possibility, I have wonderful visions of a future where the Democratic and Republican parties no longer exist at all beyond mentions in textbooks along with other antiquities like the cotton gin, phonograph, and steam engine.

It's our responsibility to ask ourselves honestly
And see where we agree
What does it mean when we say Liberty
And what does it mean to be free

I may not live to see the day when the Democratic and Republican parties loose their stranglehold on American politics, but I still like to imagine it. In the meantime, although we may not be able to free ourselves from their rule over our political system, we can still free ourselves from their nonsense in our personal lives. It will take some work to start seeing people as more than just the liberal and conservative labels our system perpetuates, but it was hard work for the Pilgrims to get here and get things started in the first place so we’re in good company.

Anyway, I doubt this song will ever be a Top 40 hit, and I'm not sure it will ever even get produced at all, but it is a fun little tune, and hope it makes somebody somewhere think a little bit. Or they could just double down on their party's platform and not think at all. I'm just glad that I still have the liberty to consider other possibilities.

But in case you were wondering, according to Merriam-Webster, liberty has a few different meanings…

liberty 
noun, plural: liberties
1: the quality or state of being free:
a: the power to do as one pleases
b: freedom from physical restraint
c: freedom from arbitrary or despotic control
d: the positive enjoyment of various social, political, or economic rights and privileges
e: the power of choice

2 a: a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant : PRIVILEGE
b: permission especially to go freely within specified limits
was given the liberty of the house

3: an action going beyond normal limits: such as
a: a breach of etiquette or propriety : FAMILIARITY
took undue liberties with a stranger
b: RISK, CHANCE
took foolish liberties with his health
c: a violation of rules or a deviation from standard practice
took liberties in the way he played the game
d: a distortion of fact
The movie takes many liberties with the actual events.

4: a short authorized absence from naval duty usually for less than 48 hours

I think we should take more liberty with our liberties. Although some are still really frightened of the prospect due to their ingrained distrust of human people, but I still have some hope for this idea of democracy. And considering the state of our communicative and collaborative technologies, I think we have grand possibilities for using our proven natural intelligence to take advantage of the artificial intelligence we’re starting to create.

The Pilgrims may have been puritanical and staunch in their limited world view, but they had the moxie to imagine a better life for themselves and go after it. And the same can be said for all of the other people who contributed to building this country and making it what it is. What liberties will we take in turning it into what it’s going to be?