What’s that Word Again…?

Do you remember that word? You know the one I am talking about. We use to it describe the benefits of being American. What is it called? Remember, it was used to represent opportunity, progress, and American Greatness…I think our Country was founded on the concept. If I recall, thousands have died over the last 200 years to protect the word…oh well…what does it matter anyway? It is just a word; after all we are still American, right?

That forgotten word is “freedom!” Perhaps it is not yet completely eliminated from our vocabulary. We still throw it out there from time to time, but it has turned into more rhetoric than an actual belief and way of life. Is it too much of an extreme to believe that we could forget the word all together? For those that do not care about the power of the word, the above illustration probably has little effect. They simply go about their lives, everyday giving little thought to their rights and freedoms. The problem is that those people are all of us. Sure, we claim that we have freedoms, but try taking a water bottle onto a plane. Try opening a personal checking account without giving out your social security number. Try taking a new job (in the private sector, mind you) without filling out at least two government-issued forms. Try driving to the grocery store without your driver’s license, car registration, and proof of insurance. Try purchasing those groceries without paying a tax for the privilege of being able to provide food for your family. Now what was that word again? Right, as Americans we are FREE. Free do to whatever we please as long as we have the proper documentation, follow the proper procedures, and pay the proper taxes. But, if we dare decide that we want to take our own bottled water onto a plane, we no longer have the freedom to travel. If we forget our proof of insurance or are a day late in registering our car, we are criminals. If we don’t fill out our government forms, we can’t get paid. If we can’t afford taxes on our groceries, we can’t buy food. These are not extreme examples; these are every day issues that each of us FREE Americans have to deal with just to complete a day of life in a country founded on limited government.

The real issue, the reason why I think that soon we will completely forget the word “freedom,” is that we don’t care. We eagerly throw our water bottle away before we get on that plane simply to insure that we don’t miss out on our vacation or business meeting. We say that we must conform to society in order to insure our protection and our way of life. Yet, the very measures put in place to insure our protection jeopardize our way of life. In the end, we are left no safer, but less free. However, we continually excuse the rules, regulations, and laws as being there for a reason and being set in place by people wiser than ourselves. This is foolishness. Our government was set up for the people and by the people. Stop and think for one second; do you truly believe that your congressman, that your president, is smarter and wiser than you? Don’t get me wrong: I strongly believe that we should respect our elected officials. They are doing a job that we are not willing to do. But, I also believe that we must work hard to elect officials worthy of our respect. American Freedom is not a slogan: it is our way of life! Freedom is not a privilege awarded to us for good behavior; it is our birth right as citizens of the United States of America. Freedom is your inheritance passed on to you by great people who sacrificed much to acquire the great wealth that we squander to purchase the idea of safety and security.

Freedom is a dangerous word. It has killed many people who were willing to fight for it. Our generation has been given this gift freely and without personal sacrifice. Let us not forsake the gift by keeping it locked in the closet or by trading it in for temporary wealth, let us instead work hard to pass that same gift on to our children and grandchildren.