Essays From West of 98: The Counterculture of Limits
Liberty comes with great power and great responsibility
“We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
--Thomas Jefferson, United States Declaration of Independence
One might find it contradictory or confounding to write an essay with a title about “limits” and then immediately open with the most famous statement ever written on “liberty.” In some quarters, limits and liberty are opposites. And that, my friends, is the point of today’s conversation.
The word “liberty” and its associated concept of “freedom” are freely thrown around in what passes for modern political discourse. Those conversations are often less of the Jeffersonian ideal and more of an exhausting strain of performative liberty that is best described as “I’ll do what I want and you’re oppressing me if you object.” To those folks, liberty is less of a principle and more of a cudgel to wield only when convenient to your other agendas.
The origin story of Jefferson’s words (and whether they originated with John Locke or elsewhere) is something of a great academic debate on which numerous scholarly volumes have been written, but regardless, Jefferson’s words were directed at the principle of government, that the people should have the right to pursue life, liberty, and happiness, without a tyrannical government determining their life’s destiny.
Whether we CAN do something and whether we SHOULD do something are different matters entirely. Jefferson’s notion of liberty as a societal pursuit is a good and decent thing that is worth preserving and defending. But when it comes to unfettered liberty as a personal pursuit, let’s be honest: that is a very dangerous and potentially harmful thing. One need only look at two classic examples of the dangers when a person lives in liberty without limitation.
In the classic film “Back to the Future Part II,” Biff Tannen has been given access to a book of sports statistics from the future. He becomes extraordinarily wealthy from gambling as a result. Already prone to unbridled ego and self-assurance, Biff becomes absolutely drunk on wealth and power. He replaces the iconic Hill Valley Courthouse (and its famous clock tower) with a palatial casino, penthouse, and monument to himself. With absolutely no limits on his life or actions, he murders a high school rival to take his wife, who jilted him as a teenager.
Then there’s “Road House,” where a successful small-town businessman named Brad Wesley becomes more wealthy and powerful than he can handle and he undertakes a self-appointed mission to “gather unto me what is mine” as if he was divinely appointed to rule Jasper, Missouri. He extorts other businesses, hires a small army of thugs to enforce his rule, and runs amok until a man named Dalton courageously stands up to him and inspires others to do the same.
I’m not here merely to recount some of my favorite movies and I admit that Biff Tannen and Brad Wesley are some extreme examples of the dangers of unlimited liberty. But as I have discussed countercultural ideas over the last few essays, I’ve talked about the dangers of unlimited technology and other “advances.” We live in a world where MORE is perceived as better, but that is not always accurate.
Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard is fond of a quote that hits me in my heart. It comes from French writer and adventurer Antoine de Saint-Exupery: “freedom is the acceptance of responsibility.”
We live in the land of the free, which has its basis in the concept of liberty set forth by Thomas Jefferson and for which millions have served to defend. That liberty is powerful. It is something that we should not give away to tyranny, nor should we waste with an unbridled desire for more of everything, lest it turn us into a grotesque caricature of our own worst impulses.
Liberty and freedom are powerful. And with that power comes responsibility.
James Decker is the Mayor of Stamford, Texas and the creator of the West of 98 website and podcast. Contact James and subscribe to these essays at westof98.substack.com and subscribe to West of 98 wherever podcasts are found.