Ever stop to consider what the word "Freedom" really means?  Ever wonder what is truly meant by liberty, and those "Unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" that were spoken of by the United States' founding documents? I certainly have. Consider this:

"Single acts of tyranny may be ascribed to the accidental opinion of a day; but a series of oppressions, begun at a distinguished period, and pursued unalterably through every change of ministers, too plainly prove a deliberate and systematical plan of reducing us to slavery." – Thomas Jefferson

When I read history, I see one long, painful struggle of men trying to exert their control over others.  In many forms, this resulted in tyranny.  Tyranny is defined as 1) oppressive power, or 2) a rigorous condition imposed by some outside agency or force. 

As Jefferson said, these acts, over time, constitute a deliberate plan of enslavement.  It was this continuing oppressive behavior by the English government that led the thirteen colonies to revolt, and resulted in the loss of Great Britain's most valueable territory.  Great Britain could have held the territory if it had won the hearts of the people.  Instead, she bullied the people, threatened the people, encroached upon her freedoms, and pushed them to the point of open rebellion.

Sadly, in our society today, we are losing many of our personal, economic, and spiritual freedoms.  We must meet the oppressors at the point of encroachment, and fight to preserve what we have, even pushing back the tide, if we can.  As Lawrence Patton McDonald wrote:

Early "Americans adhered rather closely to the free market ideal that people should remain free to find their own solutions for economic problems, whether caused by industry or by nature. The force of government would be used, if deemed necessary, only at the local level, under local control, to meet local needs. And as a result, America became a new promised land.

"We later Americans have all but forfeited the great charter of liberty that made possible the miracle of America. It still exists for us to examine. If we still like it, we can reestablish it. Doing that will require as much persistence and dedication and plain hard work on our part as was required of the eighteenth-century gentlemen who created it. It will require as much labor to regain it as it did to create it, but thankfully not more."(Lawrence Patton McDonald, We Hold These Truths, p. 14-15, ‘76 Press, 1976)

Otherwise, I feel, the oppression of the common man, the infringements on his freedom by bigger, more powerful bodies, and the loss of something special will come to pass.  As Ronald Reagan said,

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed onto them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free."

Never take for granted the freedoms we still enjoy.  On the other hand, never forget that those freedoms will always be under attack by some force somewhere who either wants to see it taken from you, or simply wants it for itself.  Greed, jealousy, power lust, hatred, pride, and covetousness are behind nearly every example of tyranny in history.  This has not changed. 

Stand at the ready.   For there is always a wolf at the door.