All over the world, Muslims are setting fire to things great and small because a few cartoonists in Denmark dared caricature Muhammed.  This latest spate of violence has invigorated an important debate about civil liberties.

Overseas, of course, editorial cartoonists and newspapers generally are not protected by a written guarantee the way that the First Amendment protects freedom of the press in the United States.

But it is the comments from dolts here are home that ought to serve as a warning for all of us who value our rights and liberties as they are written down in the Constitution.

For example, a college student told a reporter for a Washington, DC radio station that he couldn't understand how the cartoonists, "could be allowed to print such things." Another said he thought cartoonists should avoid offending religious groups (and presumably others, as well) even it meant freedom of the press were limited.

Aside from underscoring the incredible shortcomings of our high schools and colleges in teaching basic civics, these comments reveal a much more insidious problem. The healthy suspicion of government that has kept our system balanced between central authority and individual liberty for so long seems to be eroding.

To be sure, cable newscasts have grown increasingly pathetic and unwatchable. Newspapers are so committed to dumbing themselves down that they are little more than photo collages. And government now routinely attacks our right to speak out and associate with fellow citizens through a wide range of restrictions, including onerous campaign finance laws.

It seems that fewer and fewer people understand that government is not the root of all authority. We the People are.

We've been warned before. Many times. Indeed, from the very founding of our Republic, our great minds warned us that government will always naturally seek to acquire more power and greater authority at the expense of the peoples' liberty.

And now, it is. Slowly but surely, sapping its way further and further into every corner of our lives. It's up to us to draw the lines. And, in fact, we are the only ones who can. We have the power. It is only for us to use it and say, "Enough. This is where it stops."

As consumers, we can demand that the press do better. As voters, we can throw out the bums who eat away at our freedom. But now is the time to draw the line. It's time to make sure that kids like the ones in Washington know that any answer that includes slicing away our freedom is just plain wrong.