Defining Liberty
The Framers wrote the Constitution to protect the liberty of American citizens. But what exactly did “liberty” mean to them? More importantly, what should it mean to you? Eugene Volokh, professor of constitutional law at UCLA, explores this important issue.
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Script:
Here’s something we can all agree on. Liberty is a wonderful thing. The American Constitution says so, right in the Preamble: The Framers established the Constitution to “secure the Blessings of Liberty.”
So, why doesn’t that offer a clear answer to most of the constitutional questions that face America today? Aren’t lawmakers, who swear to uphold the Constitution, obliged by their oaths to vote for liberty?
The problem is that liberty, like equality or justice, is a complicated idea that means different things to different people. Consider, for instance, one simple question: Whom do we want liberty from?
Well, we want liberty from a tyrannical government. That’s why we have a Bill of Rights, and that’s why the Constitution was designed to impose powerful constraints on the federal government (and, eventually, state governments).
But we also want liberty from foreign tyrants, right? What’s the point of having a government that won’t oppress us, if it can’t protect us from foreign invaders who would oppress us even more? That’s why the Preamble also says the Constitution is set up to “provide for the common defense.”
Yet to protect ourselves against foreign tyranny, we may need to restrict domestic liberty. At the very least, the government has to impose taxes to pay for the military. Throughout American history, the government has also been seen as having the power to draft men to fight in wars; that’s certainly a restriction on individual liberty. But it’s long been seen as consistent with the Constitution.
We can see other examples, too.
The Fourth Amendment bans “unreasonable searches and seizures.” That’s a powerful protection for liberty. But it doesn’t ban all searches and seizures; reasonable ones are allowed. That’s in part so the law can better protect us from criminals intruding on our liberty.
Likewise, the Fifth Amendment provides that private property shall not “be taken for public use, without just compensation.” But that means that sometimes your property can be taken for public use with compensation, however much this limits your liberty to, say, continue living in your family house that has been condemned to make room for a highway. Sometimes liberty does yield to public benefit.
What’s more, everyone agrees that my liberty doesn’t extend to violating your rights. But where do my rights stop and yours start?
The Constitution itself doesn’t tell us, since it lists pretty much just those rights that are protected against government intrusion like the free exercise of religion. People disagree about what rights should be protected from supposed intrusion by others—for instance, by employers, or by large businesses that might try to stifle competition.
So, what do we do about this? How do we resolve all these hard questions about liberty?
First, the Framers of the Constitution explicitly protected certain liberties, such as the freedom of speech and the right to keep and bear arms.
Second, the Framers gave the courts a major role in defining the scope of those liberties.
Third, the Framers set up the structures of government—such as separation of powers—that would help protect liberty, by making sure that no single branch of government could unduly restrict liberty.
But then, fourth, they left the rest of the debate about liberty to the political process. Indeed, even the gravest violation of basic natural liberty in American history—slavery—was ultimately abolished by the political process, as well as of course by the Civil War, which was started and conducted by elected officials.
The Framers also believed that most decisions in people’s lives would not and should not be made by the government. They should be made by ordinary people: which job to take, which business to start, whom to associate with, how much to sell or buy things for, and innumerable other choices.
For the complete script visit https://www.prageru.com/video/defining-liberty
source
what a bunch of propaganda bs
Oda was one of the founding fathers
Liberty is the combination of Freedom and Responsibility
Drop right document 📃
Lockdown
Zero hospital beds
Buried relief cost
It years too years
Waiting up
Play records on liberty 🗽 they can't stolen
Lifetime payment
Government pass out small pieces
No company liberty 🗽
Knock me out
I been wait hear records government
"sometimes liberty does yield to public benefit" "reasonable searches are allowed" this is the problem with conservatives. they seek a principled country with rights and freedoms, yet they lack consistency in their principles. where does "public benefit" end? what if the highway was totally unnecessary? what if you draft young men to fight in a war in a southeast asian country that accomplishes nothing, and permanently destroys those young men's lives, if they even survived? what if "public benefit" is interpreted as gun control, or speech control for people with right wing beliefs, which are viewed as racist? there is no way in an american conservative worldview of ACTUALLY guaranteeing that any rights are protected, just that it takes a little bit for authoritarians to take it away, under the same pretenses that you defend in this video. "Common defense" = domestic terrorism watchlist for everyone right of mitt romney "Public benefit" = overarching gun control
"Reasonable searches and seizures" = conservatives are terrorists and therefore all searches and seizures are reasonable, as they're clearly trying to overthrow the government and install Trump as dictator. "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." -Benjamin Franklin
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kin-stitution?
This video contains a number of fallacies about liberty.
For example, conscription was correctly seen by the Founding Fathers as slavery. It was largely recognized that the draft was unconstitutional, until the 20th century.
So saying "throughout american history" the government has been seen as having the power to draft is A LIE. Unless we see the videomakers as incompetent, which I'm open to.
They also make the boundaries of liberty sound much more vague than they are in real life.
We do not have Liberty in the USA, what we have are rights. Rights are guaranteed by law.
Liberty is fake & gay.
Right of ownership under a dictatorship is much better.
Just like ancient Rome.
Our country's survival absolutely depends on there being free and fair elections and that Americans have full confidence in our election process being conducted in a fair manner.
LIBERTY IS FREEDOM TO DO VICTIMLESS CRIMES
You'll defend liberty unless it has USS in front of it.
“The tree of liberty must be watered from time to time by the blood of patriots and tyrants” Thomas Jefferson
0:42 “ we want liberty from a tyrannical government” who tf made this video? Smh
Nitwit.
motion graphics is lit
Wow! What a dumb video! This video just shows that big government “conservatives” are about as clueless about the constitution as progressives. The military draft is no where in the constitution and is straight up slavery. Politicians throughout history have used mandated conscription in the military as a way to set up a military dictatorship and stamp out liberty. The first military draft in America was by our first dictator president Lincoln and his war against the states. PragerU is a joke.
mike liu
Wish it worked that way in reality.
Describing how liberties are supposed to be protected is the easy part.
Describing how liberties are gradually eroding despite all the protections is harder and more worthy of a Prager video.