When people say to me, “Safety first,” I usually tell them that it’s not first, and not even in my top five. And certainly not anymore. However, our culture now seems to bow at the altar of safety. And it could eventually destroy us.

Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.

Benjamin Franklin

Many people use the quote above, often misquoted to say something along the lines of “Those who give up liberty for safety deserve neither,” but the concept is the same even when misquoted. However, we have given up so many of our liberties in the name of “being safe.”

For example, without making this into a heated political discussion, have you tried to fly recently in the US? Seriously, it is a nightmare. And why? Because we want to be safe. Many people want to blame the government for giving us the TSA and all of their silliness, but the truth is that people demanded it after 9/11. Instead of seeing 9/11 as a tragic situation that was meant to make us afraid (hence the word “terror” embedded in the word terrorist), and then consequently responding by being unafraid, we happily gave up our liberties.

The same is true with jobs. So many people I know want to do something other than what they are doing, but they somehow believe that working for someone else is more “safe” than working for themselves. Ask the now (as of the time of this writing) 25 million Americans who are now unemployed if working for someone else is really job security. At least for me, I can change course at any time if things are not working, and I can’t get fired or laid off. No wonder we see a decline in entrepreneurship in a culture that is too afraid to take a chance.

You see this in families as well. I understand the desire to keep children safe, but having worked on a college campus for several years, I can tell those of you who still make every decision for your child when they are 20 are doing them a real disservice (and you will probably have them still living with you when they are 40).

The truth is, every bit of this safety is a complete illusion. Someone could attack our nation tomorrow despite our precautions. You could get laid off or fired this week. Your child could end up being so afraid of making a decision on their own that they do nothing with their lives (a common scenario for this generation).

Safety is certainly a concern. Jumping off a cliff just because you say you are a risk-taker is stupid. However, not being willing to try something new because you are afraid you might fail is also stupid.

Our liberties are eroding daily. Our government closes in on us, more and more trying to tell us what to do in every aspect of our lives. And many people welcome it. I don’t. I have realized that much of the Occupy Wall Street crowd actually wants MORE government intervention in our lives. That is insane. You want to give up more freedom to the group that you freely admit has stolen from you? And you expect a different outcome?

At the same time we have that happening, less and less people are willing to take risks,and compounding that is the fact that the government continues to make it harder to do so.

This is also, I believe, a misunderstanding of human nature. As a Christian, I believe that all of us are prone to sin and evil. Thus, I never want anyone to have control over my decisions, because I know that they are just as selfish by nature as I am. The typical humanist, however, believes that people are basically good, and if we could just get everyone together, we would all take care of each other and look out for the good of one another (Hint:it’s also called communism/socialism). I just can’t believe that because I know my own heart as well as the heart of man and what is contained within. That’s why I want as little forced intervention in my life by other people (also known as government) as possible, democracy or otherwise.

If we don’t watch out, the “Fallacy of Safety” is going to cage us in and leave us with nothing but other people taking from us and telling us what to do.