It seems like we have laws governing everything we do. We are told how to run our businesses and how to manage our own property. We can’t drive as fast as we want, smoke in public places or even walk across the street where we please. Of what use are all these laws anyway? How can we be free with so many rules holding us back?

Undoubtedly lawmakers sometimes overstep their bounds, but there are those among us who believe that every law is evil, alleging that law is an obstacle to liberty. This anti-government philosophy is not a modern concept inspired by recent corrupt politicians and self-serving legislation. It was a doctrine well-known by the founders of this nation—and flatly rejected by them.

Licentiousness, the disdain for government, legal restraint, laws and rules, was recognized by our early leaders as the antithesis of liberty. Samuel West, defending freedom in 1776, warned against indulging freedom to excess, saying “where licentiousness begins, liberty ends.”

In 1774, Nathaniel Niles confirmed that “good government is not inconsistent with liberty. Perfect liberty and perfect government are perfectly harmonious, while tyranny and licentiousness are inconsistent with both. Yea farther, good government is essential to the very being of liberty. Remove good government and you remove liberty. Abridge the former and you abridge the latter. Let good government increase and you increase liberty.”

In his first message to Congress, President George Washington proclaimed that knowledge contributes to the security of a free constitution by teaching people to “discriminate the spirit of liberty from that of licentiousness—cherishing the first, avoiding the last.”

The Declaration of Independence declares that each of us is “endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.” The Declaration goes on to say that “governments are instituted among men to secure those rights.”

The Constitution of the United States was established to accomplish that purpose and laws are established to uphold the Constitution. Laws must be enforced or the purpose of government (to secure our rights) cannot be accomplished. It is difficult to imagine a civilization without laws, but any such vision would reveal a state of chaos.

With every right comes the duty to honor the law established to protect that right for everyone. Many people want rights without the accompanying responsibility; indeed, some people believe freedom provides absolute right to do whatever they choose with their lives, liberty and property, regardless of the impact on others. Because rights cannot exist without responsibilities, government supports its purpose of protecting rights when it compels the performance of duties between citizens.

Even fundamental rights guaranteed by the Bill of Rights do not come without responsibility. For instance, freedom of speech comes with the responsibility to tell the truth. To enforce that responsibility, the government has laws prohibiting slander, perjury and misrepresentation.

The Second Amendment protects the right to own and shoot a gun, but a person cannot take that gun to a downtown marketplace and begin shooting. By law we regulate where that gun can be shot because of the harm that can occur to others.

With the right to own property comes the responsibility to care for it in such a way that it does not threaten the health, life, liberty and value of property owned by others. Planning and zoning laws are designed to enforce that obligation.

Governments are charged with the role of securing the rights of its citizens, but that can be done only when the inherent responsibilities are also secured.

This nation is freer than other nations because of the laws we have—laws that protect our citizens from those few who have little regard for their responsibilities to others. Inherent in every right is responsibility. As we celebrate the freedoms we enjoy in this great country, may we also celebrate the governments and laws that secure those freedoms.