Remember film cameras?
Back in the day, we had to wait for several days to see how our photos turned out. First, we had to finish off the roll of film. Then we had to get it to the processing place. If we were willing to pay extra, we could get our pictures back in 24 hours.
Hard to imagine in the era of digital photography, isn’t it?
| Today we live in an instant gratification world. We see how our photo came out the moment we take it. We can instantly transfer money across the world with a few swipes on our phone. And we can cook a meal in minutes in our microwave.
It’s an amazing time to be alive. But I think there’s a dark side. Instant gratification has made us impatient.
Some things don’t come easy or quick.
Like liberty.
The U.S. government grew into an overreaching behemoth over a span of decades. It shredded the constitutional limits on its power law by law, executive order by executive order, and court case by court case. We’re not going to restore individual liberty with one protest, one election, or with the passage of one bill.
Thomas Jefferson understood this and he tucked a pearl of wisdom in a 1790 letter to Rev. Charles Clay.
“The ground of liberty is to be gained by inches, that we must be contented to secure what we can get from time to time, and eternally press forward for what is yet to get. It takes time to persuade men to do even what is for their own good.”
Liberty won’t be won in a day. Or a week. Or a year. It will take decades. But it’s up to us to keep pushing forward – one inch at a time.
I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for being a part of this with us.
Concordia res parvae crescunt,
(small things grow great by concord)
–Mike Maharrey
Communications Director
Tenth Amendment Center |
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