'Liberty Once Lost Is Lost Forever': John Adams' Warning Takes on New Meaning Amid War in Ukraine

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Simply because you and I have something this very moment does not guarantee that it will remain in our possession years, months, weeks, days or even minutes in the future. The fact is that none of us- not you, me, your cousin Carl or your aunt Linda can predict the future. Life, as we’re constantly reminded, is fairly unpredictable, a sentiment that is sure to garner a high degree of agreement.

Oddly and ironically enough, change is truly the only dependable and unchanging thing in this world. Well, that and the compulsory paying of taxes, the extreme and shocking overuse of pumpkin spice every fall season and Ryan Reynolds and Jason Statham, regardless of the movie, always and forever playing the exact same character.

So, except for those very few notable exceptions, our lives and our world are constantly changing. While looking back at history is often a worthwhile venture and much can be gleaned from studying it, it will never be a 100 percent effective way to predict future events. Yes, history will give us a good idea of how events may play out, but you and I do not know what is to come.

Of course, not all change is bad, but when it comes to governments usurping and assuming power, well, that’s rarely, if ever, the greatest of change.

John Adams, our nation’s second president, was well aware of political change and even warned against it. He understood and expressed that not all change is good or something that should be welcomed. When governments do change for the worse, clawing back that loss of freedom and liberty is almost always impossible.

In a letter to his wife, Abigail Adams, Adams specifically called out the monumental difficulty of regaining lost freedom.

“But a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored,” he wrote. “Liberty once lost is lost forever. When the People once surrender their share in the Legislature, and their Right of defending the Limitations upon the Government, and of resisting every Encroachment upon them, they can never regain it.”

Also, in that same letter to Abigail, John mentions all the lives lost in a handful of battles at the time. While he does admit that the loss of those lives is highly regrettable and unfortunate, he praises the bravery and heroism of those in the fight. He writes to his better half that it is “glorious Proof of the Bravery of our Worthy Countrymen. Considering all the Disadvantages under which they fought, they really exhibited Prodigies of Valour.”

The most glaring example today of what Adams describes can be seen in Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression. Given how much bigger and better equipped Russia was than neighboring Ukraine, one would have thought this would have been an easy victory, with Russia annihilating Ukraine in a matter of weeks, or a few months, at the most.

However, Russia’s unprovoked and deadly invasion of that European country is now more than four years old. Those Ukrainians have bravely and heroically fought back against Russian military forces who want nothing more than to see them utterly destroyed.

Of course, the Ukrainians, in their fight to protect their lives, families and homelands against invading forces, have “exhibited Prodigies of Valour.” They understand that if they were to simply roll over, give up, and allow those Russian forces to do as they please, they would forever lose their home. The Russian government would immediately seize power, and the Ukrainians would never get it back and would forever remain at the mercy of the invading forces.

Freedom is something that must be fought for and maintained. Countries and people who refuse to engage in such a fight when necessary will, sooner rather than later, see it disappear. Liberty once lost is never ever recovered again; John Adams knew this, and now the Ukrainians do as well.

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