Why "Liberty Takes Effort"?

Liberty Takes Effort was selected as the title of this blog because liberty is the indispensable principle that underpins the uniqueness of the American founding and experience.  Effort must be put forth in a vigilant manner to protect it.

The images of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, James Madison, and Benjamin Franklin, the architects of the Declaration of Independence and United States Constitution, were selected as the background image of this blog because the blog author holds them in high esteem.  Their intellect, courage, and faith formed what was to be the most powerful nation on Earth, its citizens were guaranteed liberties and rights such as the Earth had never known, and its economic dominance unquestioned for over a century.  Their ideas and opinions in large part remain valid and relevant today.

Abraham Lincoln’s picture is also included in the background images because he ended the blight of slavery and opened the door to the blessings of liberty for all.

The blog’s perspective and topics will flow from the thesis that liberty remains the key to happiness and prosperity, and the concern that liberty is eroding. It will hopefully serve as a clarion call to United States citizens to recognize the essential value of liberty and to protect it from further government incursion.

The Liberty Takes Effort blog is intended as a place for respectful conversation.  The author encourages comments.  It is his hope that through respectful conversation, where all stipulate the good intentions of others, that common opinions might emerge.  Disagreement is inevitable, but it is far better to disagree with others while knowing why and to what degree the disagreement exists than to simply reject the opinion of another out of hand.

All comments will be reviewed by the blog author to prevent comments that in his view are irrelevant, in error, or disrespectful of others.  Any modern day reader of online comments knows how quickly they devolve into partisan name calling.   The role of the mediator is to improve the conversation, not to censor.

Finally, let me say that the blog title and background images were selected with considerable care.  The author was warned that the use of the word LIBERTY and the images of the notable figures in the background may diminish participation because the word and images have been co-opted by extremists of the right.  I understand the basis for this concern, but reject the notion that a word so central to our experience must be abandoned or the images of such great men cast aside for fear that they invoke extremism. They belong to extremists only as long as we allow it.