The Author of Liberty?!
As much as the internet is full of things that could be delicately called a waste of bandwidth that could easily eat up all of my time, I have found myself simply ending up at the same sites constantly, and wasting my time there. One of these sites is The Weekly Standard, which at the best of times could be described as a neo-con arm of The Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy, meaning I may recommend the occasional article (not all of them) every so often. In the wake of the inaugural address, I'm suggesting this one, in which the author dissects this paragraph from the end of the address:
"We go forward with complete confidence in the eventual triumph of freedom. Not because history runs on the wheels of inevitability; it is human choices that move events. Not because we consider ourselves a chosen nation; God moves and chooses as he wills. We have confidence because freedom is the permanent hope of mankind, the hunger in dark places, the longing of the soul. When our founders declared a new order of the ages, when soldiers died in wave upon wave for a union based on liberty; when citizens marched in peaceful outrage under the banner of 'Freedom Now'--they were acting on an ancient hope that is meant to be fulfilled. History has an ebb and flow of justice, but history also has a visible direction, set by liberty and the Author of liberty."
As much as I didn't like select parts of the speech at times, the Bushites and their cabal of oil-bleeding fascist rich uncompassionate intolerant evil chickenhawk no-goodniks have hit on something key, all of which can be summed up in the last bit of that paragraph, the notion of an Author of Liberty. This is a pretty obvious pen-name for God.
While at first, the mental image of God inventing an abstract concept by writing it down seemed odd, it becomes significantly more realistic when one considers the work that God was the brainchild behind: the Bible. But what does the Bible have to say about liberty, anyway? Isn't that kinda how this whole "fallen world thing" got started in the first palce, with the most famous dissidents of all time eating the most famous fruit of all time?
So how does one grasp God's will for liberty in a fallen world? I tried looking for a good definition, found none online, so am going to argue liberty as the just preservation of the rights of an individual or group. So what makes a right a right? I have actually commented on this before, but the model for the origin of a right is similar to the reasoning by which everybody has a right to life:
1 God creates life.
2 God says, do not take away life unjustly.
3 Because of 1, each person's life belongs to God
4 We were given control of our lives by God. Essentially, God leases our lives to us.
5 Because of 3, God can terminate the lease at any point without penalty
6 Because of 2, no party can legally terminate the lease, and take a life
7 6 becomes null at the point where exercising a right to life violates another right of 'greater importance'. As vague as that is, such is the fallen world we live in.
8 The individual is called to use their life responsibly, and are under the same restrictions in 6, barring a good reason (again, vague but necessary)
From all this, one gets a good sense of where a right comes from. Plug in any other 'right' for 'life', and if it doesn't fit Biblically, chances are, it is not a 'right' in the true sense, ie one that is preservable by liberty.
Thus, Bush's fixation with the Author of Liberty, the one who gave us rights worth preserving for ourselves, and for all of God's children. As far as the Book of Liberty is concerned, I highly recommend it.