Sensible Truth Ep. 43: Why we Celebrate Labor Day

Sensible Truth Ep. 43: Why we Celebrate Labor Day

Welcome to Sensible Truth, where we examine the ideas that shape our lives, our families, our communities, and our nation.

Here, we believe that Truth matters, Faith matters, Freedom matters, and perhaps most importantly, what we Believe determines how we live.

 Labor Day is a celebration of the men and women who have taken their God-given talents, abilities, intelligence, creativity, and strength and put them to work building something better.

Adam Smith wrote in “The Wealth of Nations”, “Labour was the first price, the original purchase-money that was paid for all things.”

He went on to explain that it was not gold or silver, but labor, through which the wealth of the world was originally purchased.

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Sensible Truth on The Medlock Post Ep. 42: Distraction. Distraction. Distraction.

 

Truth - Faith - Freedom Distraction, distraction, distraction. Sometimes the next step in life is not doing more—it is removing what is keeping us from moving forward. We often assume that progress requires another goal, another activity, another book, another commitment, or another hour of effort. But sometimes the greatest act of wisdom is to stop, look honestly at our lives, and ask, “What is consuming my attention without contributing to my purpose?” Distractions are not always bad things. Many are good things that have simply become more important than they ought to be.

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"Live. No matter what they say, live."

 

Twenty-two-year-old Keiko Mori from Japan, a schoolteacher in Okinawa, was ordered to tell her 30 students to kill themselves with hand grenades rather than surrender in June 1945.

She refused. She told her students, "Live. No matter what they say, live." She hid them in a cave for 12 days, while Japanese soldiers searched for them to force them to die for honor.

She sang to them, and taught them math with stones, when there was no food. When American soldiers found the cave, she walked out first with her hands up, holding a white shirt, to protect her students.

An American soldier almost shot her, but saw the children behind her and lowered his rifle. He gave the children chocolate. Keiko was called a traitor by some Japanese for years after the war, but her 30 students all lived. In 1975, they built a small statue of her in Okinawa, a teacher holding a white shirt, with words, "She taught us the bravest lesson — to live."

She was ordered to accept death. Instead, one young teacher chose to fight for 30 children’s lives

Sensible Truth Ep. 41: What Is Your Master?

 

Truth - Faith - Freedom More than two thousand years ago, the Roman philosopher Seneca wrote something remarkably relevant to our modern world: “One is a slave to lust, another to greed, another to ambition, and all men are slaves to fear.” Seneca’s statement is a penetrating examination of human bondage—not bondage imposed by chains, but bondage created by the desires and fears within the human heart.

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Sensible Truth Ep. 40: America — We the People Are the Solution

 

Sensible Truth Ep. 40

America — We the People Are the Solution

The solution is therefore not simply “government.” The solution is We the People. We are responsible for the leaders we elect. We are responsible for the values we teach our children. We are responsible for the communities we build. We are responsible for whether truth matters. We are responsible for whether liberty survives. We are responsible for whether faith, family, responsibility, courage, civility, and virtue remain part of the American character.

America does not need Americans to agree on everything.

America needs Americans who are willing to stand together for what is true, good, just, and free.

We the People are not powerless.

We are the sovereign citizens of a constitutional republic.

We have a voice. We have a vote. We have agency. We have the Constitution. We have the responsibility to use them wisely.

And above all, we have the freedom to choose what kind of people—and what kind of nation—we will become.

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Dependence and Freedom by Richard G. Medlock

 

Dependence and Freedom

By Richard G. Medlock

The statement attributed to Jean-Jacques Rousseau captures a profound principle about the relationship between dependence and freedom: slavery does not always begin with chains; it can begin with the gradual loss of a person’s ability to stand, think, work, and act independently. When a person becomes so dependent upon another person, institution, or government that he believes he cannot survive without its assistance, his freedom becomes vulnerable. The image’s contrast between “dependence breeds slavery” and “self-reliance breeds freedom” therefore expresses an important truth: genuine liberty requires a measure of personal responsibility and self-reliance. This does not mean that people should never receive help or that society has no responsibility toward those who genuinely need assistance. Rather, the danger comes when assistance becomes permanent dependence, when people surrender their initiative and responsibility in exchange for security. The Founders understood a similar principle when they emphasized that a free republic depends upon a virtuous and responsible citizenry. Benjamin Franklin famously warned, “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” Freedom requires people who are willing to govern themselves rather than continually requiring someone else to govern them.

This principle also has a powerful spiritual dimension. The gospel of Jesus Christ teaches agency, not helplessness. The Lord declared, “Men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will” (Doctrine and Covenants 58:27). He does not desire passive followers who merely wait to be commanded in every circumstance. He teaches us to develop faith, judgment, courage, industry, and spiritual self-reliance. At the same time, Christian self-reliance is not independence from God. It is the development of our capacity through God. Nephi expressed this balance beautifully: “I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them” (1 Nephi 3:7). We are expected to act, but we are never expected to act alone. The Savior strengthens us while requiring us to exercise our agency.

There is therefore an important distinction between dependence upon God and dependence upon earthly masters. Dependence upon God produces freedom because God teaches us truth and enables us to become capable, responsible, and spiritually mature. Christ said, “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). Conversely, dependence upon another human being, an institution, or a government for every need can gradually diminish initiative and personal responsibility. King Benjamin taught his people to care for the poor, but he simultaneously emphasized personal responsibility: “Ye yourselves will succor those that stand in need of your succor” (Mosiah 4:16). Genuine charity seeks not merely to maintain people in dependency but to help them regain strength, dignity, capability, and hope.

The picture’s path from darkness toward light is particularly meaningful. The person walking toward the sunrise can symbolize the journey from dependency to responsibility, from ignorance to knowledge, from fear to courage, and ultimately from bondage to liberty. Freedom is not simply the absence of restraints; it is the capacity to choose righteousness and accept the consequences of those choices. In that sense, self-reliance is not merely an economic principle—it is a moral principle. A person who can think critically, work diligently, control his appetites, keep commitments, solve problems, and accept responsibility for his choices is much harder to manipulate or enslave. As Proverbs teaches, “The prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself” (Proverbs 22:3).

Ultimately, the deepest lesson is that liberty must be cultivated within the individual before it can be preserved in society. A government can protect freedom externally, but it cannot manufacture the character necessary to sustain it. If citizens surrender responsibility for their families, morality, education, finances, judgment, and conscience, they may gradually exchange the difficult responsibilities of liberty for the apparent security of dependence. The gospel offers a higher alternative: “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free” (Galatians 5:1). Christ does not free us so that we can become dependent upon men; He frees us so that we can become capable, responsible, covenant-keeping sons and daughters of God. True freedom is therefore not simply being free from something—it is becoming strong enough, wise enough, and righteous enough to be free for something: to choose, to serve, to create, to love, and ultimately to become more like Jesus Christ.

Sensible Truth Ep. 39: Alexis de Tocqueville on Majority Power

 

Alexis de Tocqueville— “The majority has not yet learned to use its power without abusing it”—captures one of the most important warnings in Democracy in America: liberty can be threatened not only by a king, dictator, or ruling elite, but also by the people themselves when the power of the majority becomes unlimited.

Human beings do not become morally perfect simply because they acquire political legitimacy.

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