The concept of individual liberty, that is the right to live as a free human, has inspired people for thousands of years. Here is some inspiration from five of the best.

Pro Libertate which translates to “For Freedom” or “For Liberty” was the family motto of William Wallace of Scotland. Wallace led his countrymen in battle to take back their country from England in 1297. Wallace told his fellow Scotsmen: “It’s all for nothing if you don’t have freedom.”

He told the English Nobles: “There’s a difference between us. You think the people of this country exist to provide you with position. I think your position exists to provide those people with freedom. And I go to make sure that they have it.”

William Wallace died a hero in 1305 and his legacy is that Scotland finally gained its independence in 1320. The movie Braveheart is based on his story.

In 1689, John Locke wrote “The Second Treatise of Government.”

“The state of nature has a law of nature to govern it, which obliges every one: and reason, which is that law, teaches all mankind, who will but consult it, that being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions…(and) when his own preservation comes not in competition, ought he, as much as he can, to preserve the rest of mankind, and may not, unless it be to do justice on an offender, take away, or impair the life, or what tends to the preservation of the life, the liberty, health, limb, or goods of another.”

Locke’s words inspired our founding fathers in the 1700s. Washington and Madison quoted his writing in calling for revolution. Thomas Jefferson used Locke’s writing as a guide when he wrote the Declaration of Independence.

In 2003, Paul Harvey told us: “Self-government requires self-discipline all the way to the top, and all the way down to us, then — then we may lead the world as we once did. For our nation’s first 150 years we led the world, not with guns, not with butter, not with money, but by example. The French threw off the yoke of their dissolute aristocracy. England initiated sweeping democratic reforms. Mexico, Central America, South America freed themselves from Spain just by watching our example.” (Paul Harvey speech at Kansas State)

Ronald Reagan in his 1989 farewell speech said: “And let me offer lesson number one about America: All great change in America begins at the dinner table. So, tomorrow night in the kitchen I hope the talking begins. And children, if your parents haven’t been teaching you what it means to be an American, let ‘em know and nail ‘em on it. That would be a very American thing to do.”

Reagan called America the shining city on the hill, a metaphor describing what the world looks up to as an example of individual liberty, freedom and morality.

“I’ve spoken of the shining city all my political life…in my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That’s how I saw it, and see it still.”

November 6, 2024, was the first day of a new chapter for the United States of America.

The message of liberty should be the first lesson at your kitchen table:

Don’t hurt people.

Don’t take their stuff.

Keep your promises.

Treat people as you want them to treat you.

That concept applies to you, your neighbor and your government.

“Whatever is my right as a man is also the right of another; and it becomes my duty to guarantee as well as to possess.” ― Thomas Paine, 1791, Rights of Man.

Right now is the best time to share this message with your children, grandchildren and newly elected representatives at all levels of government.