Freedom
01.26.09
My cause is freedom. By this I mean True Freedom, not the nationalistic and xenophobic belligerence that conservatives have insidiously and erroneously marketed under the phony brand name of "freedom (copyright pending)," but rather actual and factual LIBERTY.
Even in this country, the most powerful and privileged nation in the world, we are born as slaves, thralls to a system that we didn't devise or consent to. Though our democracy has yielded some victories, notably that of the 2008 election, more often than not we are subject to the whims of our government and the corporations that have bought it, rendering our "democracy" little more than illusion. We are not free. We survive from paycheck to paycheck, barely scraping by and paying our bills. We chip away at the infinite mountain of our student loans, we dutifully shell out for our overpriced monthly phone bill, we submissively offer our tax payments to the government like medieval serfs cowering before a mighty and tyrannical lord. Meanwhile, our phone company sells the government every conversation we've ever had, which the government purchases with money that was ours to begin with. We are not free.
My cause is freedom: freedom to do what you want, freedom to be who you want, freedom to exercise those self-evident rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness that were guaranteed to us by the Founding Fathers of this nation. Freedom for a young man to stroll along the beach smoking a joint without being harassed or arrested for his lifestyle choice. Freedom for a child born in a bad neighborhood to get a decent education, one that doesn't brainwash him with the peculiarities of a particular cult, but rather illuminates his mind with knowledge and ideas. Freedom for people to pursue their dreams and actually have a chance at attaining them, rather than being ground down and homogenized by a culture that insists upon shoving square pegs into round holes. Freedom to live and thrive in a land uncorrupted and unpolluted by profiteering millionaires. Freedom for two young women to get married to each other when they fall in love. Freedom for a family not to be spied on by their own government, at their own expense. Freedom to be yourself, and not be punished for being different.
In a free world, the police would serve and protect the people, instead of shooting unarmed civilians in the back after they surrender. In a free world, everyone would have the same educational opportunities that are now only available to the select few for a very steep price. In a free world, what drugs one takes and who one has sex with would not be matters of public record, scrutiny, or approval. In a free world, our society wouldn't judge an individual solely by how wealthy said person is. In a free world, our culture would have principles beyond the selfish and disgusting greed that serves as the atrophied backbone of American ethics today.
We are getting closer to freedom, yes. But we still are not free. My cause is freedom.
I believe in the principles on which this nation was founded. I believe in the inalienable rights of all mankind, and I believe in the values of liberty as espoused by the Founding Fathers. Furthermore, I believe that we must stamp out the corruption, injustice, and hypocrisy in our culture that threaten our rights and our freedom. Only then will we as a nation truly have the moral authority that we pretend to have now.
