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veyed to each individual regarding how to live a meaningful, responsible and successful life, and how to engage and relate to one’s neighbors, are remarkably similar.

Which raises an important point that gets too little attention.

Certainly, in our country and in the Western world, few words get more use than the word “freedom.”

But the freedom we hear so much about is freedom in the political sense. Is this or that country, or society, “free”?

According to the words composed by Thomas Jefferson in our Declaration of Independence, we are all born with rights and “to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men.”

And, in the stirring conclusion of the Declaration, the signers declared the American colonies, “free and independent states.” The focus was government and politics. But outside of government protecting freedom, where does each individual find their personal freedom they want protected?

It was George Washington, whom I often quote, that pointed out that no beautifully designed government will work if, at the individual level, we do not have morality and religion. We see every day that beautifully designed political systems and governments fail if, at the individual level, there is wanton and irresponsible behavior.

So the core of a free society is free choice at the individual level, and the core of free choice at the individual level is right and wrong. If there is no right and wrong, what does it matter what individuals choose?

Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has pointed out that “woke” culture is a form of religion. And he is right. Individuals may reject the truths of religion as we know them, but it remains for them to choose what they will accept, on faith, to be true. If they reject religion, they must invent one.

Once we believe that traditional truths, good and evil passed down through the generations, interfere with our personal freedom rather than enable it, and that we can make everything up, meaning and personal responsibility are lost. We then see more and more horrible incidents like the most recent murders in a Christian school in Franklin, Tennessee, by a very lost and confused individual.

It’s no accident that socialist societies are godless societies. They think they can make everything up.

During this special season, when so many continue to appreciate that there is meaning and truth in this world, let our prayers be directed that this continues and that more and more will begin to understand that the source of our personal freedom is our Creator and not government.

Star Parker is president of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education and host of the weekly television show “Cure America with Star Parker.” To find out more about Star Parker and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www. creators.com. COPYRIGHT 2023 CREATORS. COM