» posted on Monday, November 14th, 2011 at 8:06 pm by Andy D
America the Beautiful Day 14: Freedom
In the United States, we have the greatest collection of freedoms found anywhere. Here we are allowed to worship, speak, and basically proceed with our life as we see fit. So long as you don’t harm others, you are free to decide what to make of your own life. We are blessed with many political and economic freedoms. Some nations have some freedom in politics or some freedom in economics, but I am not aware of any nation has the same degree of political and economic freedom as the United States.
While we have an unprecedented number of freedoms in this nation,they aren’t guaranteed to always be there. In order to have a government, individuals allow that government to restrain their rights to some degree. That authority is given to the government by the permission of those who decide to live under that government.
However, as Reagan said, freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. The biggest threat to freedom isn’t armed force, it’s benevolent tyranny. As we agree to give away some of freedom to get other things from the government, we may be asking for our own chains. Freedom given away is hard to get back.
To protect our freedom we need an armed and trained military. We also need an active and educated citizen voter. I don’t mean educated in the since of a high school or college degree. I do mean that you as a voter have a duty to understand your government, understand your freedoms and rights, and to understand who the people you are voting for (or against) are. This does require some work and effort on your part. It means understanding the implications of allowing the government to tax you to provide a benefit, and it means understanding when we have to recognize a policy as something that would be nice, but not something that can be afforded.
We are now less than one year away from our next Presidential election. It would be great for our country if we could remember the responsibility we owe each other between now and the.
filed under 31 Days of Blogging · America · freedoms | 12 comments
Political Friends Blog | 31 Days of Blogging: America the Beautiful said:
Nov 14, 11 at 8:07 pm[...] Day 14: Freedom [...]
Gerrit said:
Nov 24, 11 at 7:36 amI would disagree that the US has more or less freedoms than other developed nations. I would also disagree that a maximum amount of freedom is necessarily a good thing. In Europe, many countries have laws against racist speech, neo-nazi outings or hate speech. In Germany, even simply making the Hitler salute can cost you jail time. Is this a bad thing? It is a restriction on freedom, but IMO it protects society against those who want to cause fractions and divide. Hate speech does not deserve to be legalised. Not every freedom restriction is bad towards society. It is a discussion open to different opinions of course where the line has to be drawn, but leaving total freedom for everyone results in anarchy and that is a system that I fear will never work.
Also, let me ask, if the US has more freedom than any other nation in the world:
- why is gay marriage only legalised in a few states? Where is the right of homosexuals to have a civil marriage? (based on equality and freedom of religion, there is no reason to deny them that right)
- where is the right of Atheists to stand office and hold important positions within politics or big organisations such as the Boy Scouts (who openly admit to deny access to atheists)? In some states there are laws that certain governmental jobs cannot be taken by atheists. Granted, this is only in a few states, but de facto in other states –while legal to be candidate in elections– atheists are very much discriminated against.
- where is the right for a woman to have abortion? I am not sure if it is legal or illegal in a specific state, but it is a topic of re-occuring discussion, and while most European nations have legalised it, the US is amongst the few developped nations where it is still a hot topic. Based on mainly religious influence, while the country still pretends that religion and law are separated and that people can have the faith they choose (which also includes the right not to believe and thus the fact that laws should not be based on any specific belief)
Just a few random examples to show that the freedoms are not more or less than elsewhere. Granted, some freedoms that exist in the US will not exist here. But let’s just say I am not uncomfortable with restrictions where needed. Free speech without restrictions on hate speech and xenophobia is very dangerous. The right to carry weapons is a freedom we don’t have in Europe, but I also don’t think it’s a bad thing to have restrictions on that.
No society is ideal, and I don’t want to blackmail the US, I just try to point out that the idea that freedoms are much larger than elsewhere is a biased picture. And that more freedoms are only a good thing if people are all well behaved and educated. Since this is not the case, a strong government as referee/monitor of society is not a bad thing.
Gerrit said:
Nov 29, 11 at 5:37 amSome comments I made seem to be missing? Technical issues or were they not published for other reasons?
I hope that critical comments (I don’t think any of my comments used foul language or were provocative) are still welcome at this site, otherwise debating becomes quite difficult. While I’ve often had opposite views than the author, I always enjoyed reading the site and hope that opposing opinions are still welcome to be posted?
Andy D said:
Nov 29, 11 at 7:46 pmFear not Gerrit,
Your comments have been welcomed and will be approved. Between being in the middle of the 31 Day Blog Challenge, and doing a lot of traveling this month, I have fallen behind in moderating comments on here. I promise within the next 24 hours, all of your comments will be moderated. Sorry for the delay, and I sincerely appreciate your patience.
Gerrit said:
Dec 01, 11 at 7:57 amNo worries
I posted one comment on your post on pro football, where actually the post somehow went missing as the browser crashed when I tried to publish (which is a shame because I very much agree with your post on how sports bring people together and form an essential part of socialising between people… But I fear that one will be lost due to a technical issue on my side)
While we’re in different corners on the political spectrum, I always enjoyed reading your posts. One can agree to disagree, but still value the debating in a sincere atmosphere. This site welcomes opposing views while insults rarely if ever occur. That’s great compared to other political sites (which are often moderated poorly, resulting in insulting language rather than proper debate)
Keep up the good work! I wish I had the guts to just publish my political opinions, but in a Europe shifting more and more to the right, left-wing opinions are not very popular reading right now here
Pack04 said:
Dec 02, 11 at 4:02 pmPublish in America! Our press seem to love left-wing opinions!
Gerrit said:
Dec 03, 11 at 8:10 pmHeh? I always thought the US was very anti-communist and anti-socialist… In the end both the US and the EU allow a large degree of freedom of speech and I am member of a political party. However, openly admitting to be left-wing is not always respected by whoever you would be talking to here in Europe. I always respected different opinions and always remain polite when talking to openly right wing people. The only thing I’d wish for is that the same goes vice versa. Maybe the US is more open in this perspective, I always thought that left-wing was disliked a lot in the States but then maybe I’m wrong there. I do know the US has left wing and far left parties so that it’s not illegal to have left-wing ideologies.
Gerrit said:
Dec 03, 11 at 8:15 pmBy the way, I stumbled across this on a different site.
http://www.rumormillnews.com/?read=222774
I am not sure if it is a rumour or true, but if it is true then America is moving further and further away from being the Land of the Free. While I am not a supporter of total freedom without some restrictions (hate speech, xenophobic agenda, etc) I would say arrests without warrants are several bridges too far.
We already had the Patriot Act that goes a lot further than the internet surveillance existing in the EU ; the article above however is really worrying …. IF it is true, which I would like to hear confirmed by some reliable sources before willing to believe it. I hope it isn’t true, and that it’s just some rumour.
Pack04 said:
Dec 08, 11 at 9:16 amGerrit I forgot that you are so left that you are in that socialist realm. those ideals probably would not be as welcome here either. A little left usually ends up getting the most.
It is great to have civil discussion with people.
Gerrit said:
Dec 09, 11 at 6:50 amYes, I echo that last line. This is also why I visit this site. I know Andy is in a totally different corner of the political spectrum as I am, but somehow his writings are interesting and even if you disagree the debate goes in a sincere atmosphere rather than a heated atmosphere with borderline insults. In the end, as much as we hold different opinions politically, I could imagine having a good chat with Andy over a glass and snack if we were not in a different country ; you can have different opinions but still have mutual respect. That is what I appreciate a lot about how this site is run (as opposed to other political websites where often people verbally attack each other when they disagree)
I must also say I admire Andy for doing this site. I usually publish my political articles to my friends, family and fellow members of my party only because I fear they would not be welcomed on a general website. Andy publishes for everyone to read without being concerned about people who disagree. If I had the same guts I’d start a political blog too (from a far left perspective) instead of spreading my opinion pieces to friends and fellow party members only.
(I am a member of a far left coalition here in Catalonia, the semi-autonomous area of Spain where I live)
Gerrit said:
Dec 09, 11 at 7:10 amBy the way, the link I gave … http://www.rumormillnews.com/?read=222774
Anyone has an idea if this is true or just a rumour? I for sure hope it is not true. While I don’t support unrestricted freedom of speech, I do support a freedom of speech with only few restrictions (eg hate speech, xenophobia, racism) ; if the law changes discussed in this article are true, one would already be a target for criticising anything different than the government’s books.
Gerrit said:
Dec 09, 11 at 7:15 amPS (pressed the publish button a bit too rapidly)
Even the Patriot Act is already going against the principles the US was founded upon, although I do think the act itself is justifiable. In the end it is not because terms such as “communism”, “socialism” or “referendum” are used in a conversation, that you’re doing anything illegal since any political belief is legal (at least I hope so !) ; the moment however one could simply get arrested for outing his preferences or discussing certain heated subjects under the banner of “potential suspect” (= that term is so vague that everyone could be one if one is paranoid enough) we are not even on thin ice, but on shattering ice.