Freedom?

Is it just me or does it seem that more and more of the American people are losing freedoms under the guise of protection. And it has only gotten worse. We the people of the United States of America have become so apathetic, lackadaisical, and down right stupid that we don’t even realize our freedoms are being chipped away. How long is it going to last? At what point do “We, The People” say enough is enough and take back the country that rightfully belongs to us, the governed?

I read a news story recently that stated that the President of the United States (and his cronies) have the right, without warrant to wiretap anyone they deem necessary. This all stems, of course from the illustrious Patriot Act. Patriot Act? The key word there being “Patriot”! IS ANYBODY HOME!? They wouldn’t know a patriot if it slapped them in the face! According to dictionary.com the definition of patriot is “…a person who regards himself or herself as a defender, esp. of individual rights, against presumed interference by the federal government…” If these people were so interested in individual rights, the Patriot Act would not exist! As far as I am concerned the President of this country may as well have taken the Constitution out of its protective case, thrown it on the floor, and pissed all over it, because that is essentially what he and his administration have done.

Of course the chipping away of our freedoms isn’t new. It started small. Now I am not going to get into environmentalism, nor am I necessarily for or against smokers rights (although personally, I am not a smoker), but it all started (at least this is as far back as I can recall being aware of legislation of how people should come and go as they please) with the here-and-there bans on smoking.

Next, it was seatbelts. Now this is a real pet peeve of mine. I wear a seatbelt in a car, but it isn’t because my legislators told me to do so. If I didn’t feel safe wearing a seatbelt, then, by god, I wouldn’t. And I would take it to the Supreme Court if I had to. Follow my logic, if you will, for a moment. You work for your money. At least twenty percent goes to the government already. You take what they leave you and you go buy a car, again giving the government their cut in taxes. Then you pay the government again for title fees; then again to get it licensed, a recurring yearly fee. Some states even require that you pay them to have your car (for which you have already paid) inspected by them, another recurring yearly fee. Finally, you have to pay them one more time to get your drivers license which has to be renewed every four to six years. And, yet, they are going to tell you what you can and can not do in your own vehicle even though it does not infringe on anyone else’s life, liberty, or pursuit of happiness. Does this make any sense? IS ANYBODY HOME!? As my father used to say, “You’re not going to get a spark in the ass in hell…” if I don’t wear my seatbelt!


Although I have never flown on an airplane (because I think it’s crazy, but I will touch on that subject at another time), my sister and brother-in-law have done so several times since the whole 9-11 thing went down. From what she tells me, the security surpasses the ridiculous by encroaching on the privacy of people under the guise of safety. Now I am not racist or prejudice in any way form or fashion, but my sister has no criminal record, never hurt anyone, is a citizen of this country, yet was subjected to a search of her personal, private belongings by an employee of the airline who was clearly not a U.S. citizen. Is that not ridiculously ironic? IS ANYBODY HOME!?
Dr. Martin Luther King in his famous “I Have A Dream” speech longed for the day “…when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, [would] be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, ‘Free at last! free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!’” But “We, the People” have forgotten what freedom means and that freedom isn’t free. Is this false safety worth the freedom that we give up on a daily basis? Thomas Jefferson, a man whom I am not real fond of (again I will discuss that at another time), said (and I am paraphrasing) when a government stops governing in a way that is for the people that it governs, it is the right of the people to reform that government. I can not help but wonder if this nation has reached that point. I believe that we as a nation are at a fork in the road. One direction is socialism with complete lack of freedom. The other is…well…it is my sincere fear that if things do not drastically change for the better, that there may very well be another civil war in this country. And it will not be north against south, east against west, or black against white. No. It will be “We, the People” against an oppressive government that has lost its ability to govern fairly, justly, and with the people’s best interest at heart. Against a government that has forgotten what the word “Patriot” really means. That is my fear. My only hope is that the people of the United States of America will be just that, united. We need to be of one accord to heal the cancer of our nation. Of course, this is just my point of view ;-)

Copyright 2008 Daniel D. Domain