by Margaret Gabbard

Our goal in publishing the Liberty Matters Journal is to highlight a heroic moment or person in the founding of this great nation, and contrast it against current issues. We do this in part to inspire the patriotic pulse of our readers and in part to illustrate how far we have strayed from the core principles upon which our nation was founded.

For this issue we have selected the remarkable Benjamin Franklin as a reminder of how much one man can do to shape a nation. He was an old man when the revolution moved into high gear, and he lived to see the nations development through to the signing of the United States Constitution. In many respects he was looked to for sage advice by some of the younger patriots, such as Thomas Jefferson who was 36 years younger than Franklin. Ben was the wise, experienced radical whose influence shapes a nation, still today.

Believing that “If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading, or do things worth writing.” Franklin left much to be written about, a small portion of which we have highlighted for you here.

How far we have moved from the sensible wisdom of men like Franklin to the national acceptance of environmental laws, which have plunged our nation into an energy crisis. Surely this is not what Ben had in mind when he let out his kite in a thunderstorm, proving for the first time in history that lighting conducted electricity.

Or what of a microscopic bug that could halt entrepreneurship through a law that relies upon a twisted expansion of the commerce clause. Surely as Franklin argued for limited federal powers in the hot, unconditioned Philadelphia Hall, he could not imagine the Constitution becoming so ridiculously mangled as to validate such activities.

But hopefully he would be pleased to see Americans today fighting against such federal oppression and unconstitutional acts. After all, it was Franklin who said they gave us a republic, if we can keep it.

Good reading.