Liberty does not happen by accident. While we have an inalienable right to liberty, history demonstrates that securing it—and then holding on to it—are different matters entirely.

It would be nice to think “liberty” is the norm of the human experience and “tyranny” the exception. It would be nice, but it would not be true.

In the late 1940s, a businessman named Henning Prentis noticed a pattern in history. The pattern leads from bondage to liberty and back to bondage. 

He developed the so-called “Prentis Cycle” over a series of speeches and essays. It goes like this, quoting Mr. Prentis: 

“From bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to courage; from courage to freedom; from freedom to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to fear; from fear to dependency; and from dependency back to bondage once more.”

We like freedom and abundance, but in our selfishness and complacency, we reject faith. We convince ourselves that we have nothing to fear from the tyrants who speak softly to us, and we shackle ourselves under the promise of their protection. Anyone courageous enough to speak out is mocked and attacked.

Where are we now? Are you sure?

If we are to retain our liberty, we must renew our faith and shore up our courage. We must shake our friends out of their complacency and apathy.

Liberty can only grow in the soil of self-governance tended to daily by zealous patriots.

It isn’t someone else’s job. It is my job and your job. It is a job for which we must actively train our children. The cause of liberty never ends.