Freedom 2-on-1 April 5, 2019

 Freedom. An important word. A word to die for. A word to live by.

Freedom to speak your mind. Freedom to live life as you please without hindrance or restraint. The absence of subjection to foreign domination or a despotic government. Freedom to worship any religion or no religion at all. The state of not being imprisoned or enslaved.

in 1988 Bruce Springsteen sang Chimes of Freedom to 200-300 thousand East Berliners. It wasn't long before the wall came down.

We have it pretty good here in the USA - even now in what many consider to be dark times. Our President promised he would tear down our institutions of government and he is trying to do just that. His supporters are happy.

While most Americans understand freedom of speech means you can say what you want but you do not stroll into a crowded theater and scream "FIRE!" at the top of your lungs. Our President recognizes NO restraints to his speech. His supporters do not care.They have 2 new conservative Supreme Court Justices.

To say many die for freedom is an understatement of herculean proportions. We have fought the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, the Civil War, Spanish American War, WWI, WWII, Korean War, Vietnam War, Iraq War, and the unnamed war in Afghanistan. I have a friend named Dennis Marsh who fought and flew in the Vietnam war, helped evacuate Saigon at the end, and proudly traces his heritage back through every war by identifying his family members in each one. Dennis proudly comes from a long line of American Patriots.  It is because of people like Dennis that we enjoy the freedoms so commonly attributed to the USA.

It is because of what has been dubbed The Greatest Generation that we are not speaking German or Japanese as our primary language. That generation made the sacrifices necessary to defeat the AXIS powers in WWII by supplying the military might with the materials and support needed to get the job done. except f

We are in the midst of perhaps the greatest divide in our country's history except for the Civil War.. Though you would be hard pressed to get anyone on the left or right to admit the other side actually believes in freedom - the left calls the right  fascists and the right calls the left socialists/communists, they actually just see freedom differently. The left sees freedom as - freedom to a - be or do anything you wish, and the right sees freedom as the freedom from - big government, regulations, restrictions on their ability to make money. Our educational system has failed colossally in teaching civility and civil discourse, making it virtually impossible to debate or discuss an issue without devolving into mayhem. Ultimately I suspect we will survive, just not in my lifetime. There are generally accepted two types of freedom - for a good article on them go here.

In many ways freedom is a relative term. How can that be? The USA was founded on Judeo/Christian principles. Our social framework consists of laws designed to support those principles and ideals but not to legislate any specific religion as the state religion. That has led to debate and argument over things as ridiculous as Christmas displays on public land - some on the left claim those displays promote  Christianity and are offensive to other faiths and non believers.  Personally, with our Judeo/Christian  background they are nothing more than simple tradition. On a personal note, I know of no one who has been offended by my wishing them a Merry Christmas. But a democratic country founded on other than Judeo/Christian fundamentals is likely to have a different framework more aligned with their founding ideology.

 FI think freedom comes in big F and small f versions. Big F Freedom is freedom as it relates to the government. We vote and elect most of our leaders. The laws they pass set the boundaries of freedom. They dictate that we do not choose our Presidents and Vice Presidents on simple plurality - the individual with the most votes wins. Congress created the Electoral College - thereby giving for example Wyoming's 70,000 voters per Electoral College Vote the same weight as the 179,000 voters in California for each Electoral College voter. Wyoming's voters are worth roughly 2.5 times the voters in California.  Yep - that sure seems fair. Alas changes to or eliminating the Electoral College require a Constitutional Amendment and that is not likely to happen.

Small f freedom - the freedom to change your mind, make mistakes and learn from them - the freedom to live your life on your terms  Speak your mind.

The most important freedom we have is access to the means to enjoy life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. One could make an argument that there is not equal access available and that clearly needs to be worked on, but we are working from a base of strength.

Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose
Nothin', don't mean nothin' hon' if it ain't free, no no.

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See ya next week, same bat time, same bat channel.