Freedom Preserved 

Freedom is the right to follow your conscience and to speak your mind, guiding your actions in a way that benefits society without infringing on the rights of others. All freedom comes from God because if we were a random collection of molecules and atoms, we would be governed by the laws of nature. We are created by God not only to follow physical laws but also to follow moral laws. God gives us this freedom in the first place, not the government. It is the purpose of all governments to protect these freedoms ordained by God for all people across all demographics, particularly for those who are weak, poor, and oppressed.

A government is bad when it tramples individual rights, suppresses people’s freedom, cruelly controls every aspect of people’s lives, and causes its society to regress. Marxism is a theory that condemns capitalism as evil. It states that no classes should exist in society and blames capitalism for all the world’s problems. Marxism, defined by Karl Marx is a “true realm of freedom” in which the individual is liberated from the false consciousness of capitalism. While Marx is saying capitalism gives false hope, ironically it is what Marxism gives. Brad Thompson, a professor at Clemson University states, “the path of this utopia requires the destruction of economically, politically, and morally of every vestige of as we know it.”

Marxism fails to give true freedom to everyone. To find an example of a good government, one needs not to go further than the Declaration of Independence. This founding document explains that the government must be small, have the consent of the people, protect the rights of all people impartially, and, most importantly, safeguard freedom for all. Surprisingly, this was a new idea originally articulated in the American Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson, the primary writer of the Declaration, states that the declaration was “an instrument…pregnant with our own and the fate of the world.”

In the 1950’s, Hungary was under political and religious suppression by the Soviets. Their Marxist-Leninist rule had no compassion for Hungarians. They had no free speech, they had no freedom of belief, they had no freedom. The Soviet-backed Hungarian Secret Police, the AVO, would find and torture anyone who was against the rule of Moscow over Hungary. Rákosi Mátyás, the de facto leader of Hungary, imposed totalitarian rule on Hungary. In fact, he also included the dissemination of communist ideology in schools and universities.

The government started controlling all industries and jobs. This caused living standards to drop. There was overcrowding and poor living conditions. There were shortages of necessary items due to the government controlling what gets done and what does not get done. The standard of living diminished due to their contributions to the industrialization of Hungary. These are the many results when you take away the rights and freedoms of the people.

Hungary’s Declaration of Independence from the Marxist USSR in 1956, although not an official declaration, was represented by several key documents and speeches. One of the documents, called the 16 Points, written on October 22, 1956, was a student manifesto listing demands of the Hungarians toward the Soviets. This is remarkably parallel to the middle section of America’s Declaration of Independence. It lists the grievances and wrongdoings of the oppressor for the Hungarians — the tyrannical Soviets. “Workers should have the right to strike…We demand general elections…with universal suffrage, secret ballot, and the participation of several Parties.”

Hungarians demanded the rights, freedoms, and liberties that the government had taken away from them. Scholars have noted that Hungarians were inspired by the universal principles of liberty and self-determination brought forth by our declaration of independence. Like the American colonists, they framed their struggle as a defense of human dignity and natural rights against an oppressive government.

Similarly, Hungarians did not want to be governed by an outside force; they wanted to govern themselves. They wanted to keep their God-given liberties and therefore drew upon the original yet timeless ideas of the Declaration. The Declaration of Independence states, “Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” Hungarians did not want to be vassals of other countries; they wanted to govern themselves. Hungarians were searching for an example of how to escape a tyrannical government, and the U.S.’ declaration was a beacon of light for them. 

America’s declaration protected the God-given freedom to her own people and to the nations all around the world. While the Marxist implements of the USSR failed to give the people of Hungary true freedom. Lincoln, who preserved the union during the Civil War, stated, “The Declaration gave liberty not only to the people of this country but hope to all the world for all future time.”

 Joel Lewis, an undergrad at Hillsdale College, authored this article as part of VOC’s Student Essay Contest.