I spent a good portion of this nation’s 234th birthday thinking about and then being a bit depressed about our current collective state of being.
Maybe more correctly put, our collective state of liberty.
I got depressed because it feels to this author that liberty gets trampled over each day, with almost a fervent glee, as if to prove that those precious documents that declare our independence and then codify the founding ideas into what “Congress shall make no law” about, are to be shredded in the name of democracy at any and every opportunity.
And perhaps saddest of all, that civil discourse is all but dead and gone.
I think Jefferson, Adams, Franklin and even Rutledge would shake their heads at what their nation has become.
For all of the passionate debate and noble thinking that went into the creation of our Union, is it not a bit disheartening to realize that those who claim the mantle of the keepers of the flame for such discourse and thought are found to be so wanting and ignorant of the simple concept that indeed “All men are created equal”?
(Of course we do understand that in the less than gender neutral world of 1776, there wasn’t the common use of the concept of “person” versus the bias of speaking about “Men” as if the opposite sex did not exist.)
The point I’m trying to make here is that I’d like to see some real respect for the fundamental concept that “all men ARE created equal”, whether they be democratic or republican, liberal or conservative, white or black, rich or poor, outspoken or introspective, northern or southern, with a talk show or without, blogger or luddite–that every one of us is entitled to live our American dream with at least a basic bit of respect.
Because it just seems like all anyone can do these days is to put someone else down in some kind of constrained definition. A “box” if you will, to contain that person which they are attempting to describe–and usually discredit–by defining with some degree of disdain or disgust, what is wrong about that person simply because of what they believe.
I, for one, can’t believe that the founding fathers really wanted this for their new nation. They revolted against the imperialism of living in a land ruled by a single monarch, with no small price paid, for this tenacious concept called liberty.
And 234 years later, the freedoms to pursue life, liberty and happiness are limited daily by those of any and all stripe who would discredit and destroy the beliefs of those who don’t share whatever particular stripe that is, as being squarely focused on “destroying our country.”
Is there any more heinous and despicable charge?
If you can’t absolutely prove that someone is trying to “destroy our country” by simply holding a different view, should you be allowed to push your own brand of intolerance sitting behind a microphone, megaphone, or keyboard without any rebuke?
What would America become if we rejected the politics of destruction for that greatest of all promises, “liberty and justice for all”?
Wouldn’t it be the best birthday present ever for the Republic, if we used some of the gunpowder we so casually explode in the air each 4th of July, to blow up the boxes that so many seem to be building ever bigger each day, just to contain those who have the temerity to think differently about things than you might?
As daunting a challenge and unlikely as that prospect might seem, it could happen. But only if a lot more citizens who make the “silent majority” actually demand it of those in the “vocal minority”.
Put more simply, it has never been a better time to let freedom ring.
