More than any other tangible freedom, I value the right to be “secure in my person.” But this phrase from the Bill of Rights’ 4^th Amendment, for me, extends further than protection from government. It harkens back to the 1^st Amendment guaranteeing my freedom of expression. And by expression, I mean the right to speak my mind and disagree without someone else, who might interpret disagreement as their right to “take offense” and then act upon me in a reactive, punitive, or even violent manner. As a Liberal, I use my ability to think as a way of liberating myself from the fear which comes from ignorance. Not enshrining it as some sacrosanct order to be conformed to and enforced upon others.

So what’s the link for me as I celebrate our Independence Day? It is not government tyranny I most worry about, though on the horizon I see extremism undermining the halls of our democratic republic, instead it is my celebration of the rights of thinking people of conscience to advance our society through the dialogues of constructive disagreement.

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