by Ronald G Baars

Created on: July 10, 2010   Last Updated: July 11, 2010

What are civil liberties?  Much has been said and before the last day of all mankind much more will be said but I venture to partake in the discussion and offer a morsel.  The idea of civil liberty is one of great hope and prospect but the definition of these things has often proven a narrow and tortured path where seekers must face great and diversified challenges for even a glimpse at such an advanced and high ideal as civil liberty.

To begin, I will offer the old adage of “divide and conquer”.  This is at the root of the struggle for civil liberties and so I will use it to venture a further revelation of the topic.  In the sun there is a point at which the materials become so dense that light cannot escape, and so to us it appears as a well-defined celestial orb.  The truth is much more complex.  This also bears true in the case of civil liberties.  Civil alludes to many things and is the key element in other great ideas of human endeavor such as civilization, civil unrest, civil disobedience, civilized, civil engineering, civic virtue, civil war and civilian.  As I think about these words I define within myself a paradox.  Civil, as it applies to liberties is not about the individual.  It is about how an individual is to be treated within a group, society, city or civilization.  This indicates a delicate interplay between the needs of one and the needs of many.  If each man who was born were given a place to live and enough room to roam without interference from others, there would be no need for civil liberties.

The other side of that coin is that there would also be no civilizations, meaning there would be no testaments to what profound impacts humanity can have on the world as they combine their forces in a common effort.  How long would it take to build a sky scraper if it was to be built by one man?  First of all he would have to grind the stone to make the concrete.  How long would it take to grind the stone?  He would also have to feed and clothe himself as he worked so how much time would that take away from the project?  Who would care for him if he got ill or was injured?  The efforts of an entire lifetime would only result in the construction of a few stories.

So let us now think of liberty and her relatives that we call liberties.  Would one man all alone truly be free and what is freedom, and the ability to choose (agency).  How are

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