The Fundamentals of Self-Governance pt. 1 - The freedom muscle

Self-governance is a lifestyle.

Self-governance is an art.

Self-governance is the lifeblood of a free society. Wherever true, genuine freedom flourishes, it is because the people choose to be self-governing.

Yes, self-governance is a choice. 

In his must-read bestseller If You Can Keep It, Eric Metaxas expounds on a regrettably forgotten tenet of the American Founding Era. He writes “we must marvel that we have “kept the republic” for nearly two-and-a-half centuries. Why did the Founders think this possible?” he asks. 

“The answer,” Metaxas goes on to explain, “has to do with the peculiar nature of the American colonists who had been here for generations. Ever since they had sailed across the ocean to the New World they had essentially been free to govern themselves, with minimal interference from the distant British government. They had gotten accustomed to thinking for themselves, and to doing as they saw fit. You might say that they had developed the muscles necessary for freedom.”

The Founders were of the persuasion that freedom was not a guaranteed gift (in the sense that it is not, as Reagan said, passed down in our bloodstream) but a responsibility each generation must willingly accept. Men in a free environment would either prolong that freedom by developing the “freedom muscle,” believed the leaders who crafted the American experiment in freedom, or they would lose it through the dystrophy of that muscle.

All of this is implied in Benjamin Franklin’s famous words (after which Metaxas’ book is named). When asked what delegates to the Constitutional Convention had created for the new nation, he replied, “a Republic, if you can keep it.”

Franklin’s “if” is our responsibility. If we are to keep our Republic, we must keep our freedom muscle, and we keep our freedom muscle by exercising it through responsible self-governance. 

In other words, self-governance is the workout that keeps freedom alive. It requires sweat, discipline, and responsibility. But the prize (freedom) is always worth the price.

The longer we fail to govern ourselves, the more freedom becomes foreign to us. The longer we fail to choose to live our lives in a way that is favorable to the country, the more that country will tell us how to live…

…until the freedom muscle altogether disappears.

Indeed, self-governance is a lost and dying art. It must be resuscitated or freedom will die along with it.

It’s time to take self-governance seriously again. This week, we’ll take a long, hard look at what it means for a people to govern themselves, whether how we live our lives is linked (as the Founders would argue) with whether or not we are free, and what we all can do to rebuild the freedom muscle.

It’s time for a workout.

For now, one of the best things we can do to re-establish self-governance is to take action to save freedom from a government that fundamentally does not believe in the ability of the American people to govern themselves. Here at Convention of States Action, we believe decisions should be made as close to home as possible. To take the first step toward restoring that vision for America, sign the petition below!