My wife and I attended a Young Republican BBQ last night. The organizers scheduled four speakers, a state Representative from the eastern side of Missouri, Paul Curtman, two local state Senators, Will Kraus and Ed Emery, and the President of the Missouri Alliance for Freedom, Ryan Johnson.

I don’t think the speakers conferred and selected a topic; their schedules were too varied. When all were finished, all had spoken about the same two items: What is Liberty and what is the purpose of Government?

Paul Curtman spoke how, when he was in the military in Afghanistan, he asked himself why he was there and for what purpose. He studied what was a soldier’s duty and why anyone would assume those duties. That lead him to examine our Constitution closely. His conclusion about the purpose of government, of constitutions, and the nature of liberty was remarkably similar to the conclusions of the others.

Will Kraus, a reservist and officer in the Missouri National Guard, had similar thoughts. He reviewed some of his sponsored legislation and how those bills supported Liberty and constrained the excesses of government.

Ed Emery, Missouri State Senator, District 31

What is Liberty? What is the purpose of government? Ed Emery, the last speaker, closed the discussion saying, “Liberty and purpose of government is defined in the second paragraph of our Declaration of Independence.”

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed[.]

Liberty is ‘certain unalienable Rights, among these are Life and the Pursuit of Happiness.’ The purpose of government is to assist in the achievement of those unalienable Rights. Government has no other purpose than this.

That definition certainly differs with the purpose of government as defined in most of our educational systems and the views of liberals. In our view, the conservative view, government is subordinate and subject to the people. Pubic education and liberals, progressives as they like to call themselves, have the opposite view—people are subordinate to government.

The question now comes to us, how are we to maintain that original viewpoint and return government to its original purpose and definition? That too, has a simple answer—examine and question candidates for office. Examine them closely, their voting records, listen to their speeches, question them ask for their definition of Liberty and Government. If the answers satisfy you, help with their campaigns, help fund those campaigns, and always, always, keep them in you eye and monitor their actions once in office.

Never let them forget they are under scrutiny. The good ones, those officeholders and candidates who support your beliefs in Liberty and Government will appreciate your efforts. Those officeholders and candidates who hide their views from you deserve only your scorn and efforts to remove them from office.

The two questions, define liberty and define government, are easy questions to ask. It should be as simple for officeholders and candidates to answer. It is the duty of the voter to ask, judge, and to support the officeholder or candidate…or his opponent, whomever that may be, who will support Liberty and the Declaration’s definition of the purpose of government.