I think it best to set out a couple definitions.
There has been a growing confusion during the last century, especially in the Western world, between two vital concepts:Freedom and Liberty. Though I do not consider myself to be a man of extraordinary moral fortitude or pervasive wisdom, I will do my best to set these terms apart.
Freedom is the ability to DO WHAT IS RIGHT (free will,etc.).
Liberty is the license to DO WHATEVER YOU WANT, (hence, such words as “libertine”.)
I bring this point to bear because I see an alarming trend in the culture of inducement (advertising, politics) to co-opt and rewrite a language that I hold very dear - and not for any worthy purpose, either. There is no evolution in this arena; no growth into higher form. Our language is not being re-written in the hands of a Chaucer, Shakespeare or even a Lenny Bruce. No, it’s being stretched and twisted by those who would have you perpetuate an image of pigheadedness and stubborn ignorance. By their agenda, you are to represent to the world this abberation of both Freedom and Liberty that has been dubbed “the American Dream”.
I wince to consider the possibility of being personally equated with the images that are broadcast worldwide by media moguls - the same media moguls who have been propping up the political machinery in this country for decades. However, we have been granted a great gift in the progression of technology - and I’m using it now: the Internet.
So, here is the mission: Reach out. Reach out to your Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Sikh, Taoist and Hindu brethren, and your brethren of all other creeds. Reach out to Iraqis, Israelis, Pakistanis, Afghans, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Koreans, Russians, Turkish, Greek, British, Irish, Italians, Germans, Polish, Spanish, Hondurans, Mexicans, Chileans, Venezuelans, Libyans, Kenyans, South Africans and all those ad infinitum throughout this round earth. Reach out with this voice; reach out with this river of ideas that grows beyond the moguls, politicians and pundits control. Let the world know that we laugh in our joy; cry in our anguish; love our spouses and children; worship and think and eat and sleep and work. Let the world know that we are no more a Hilton sister than we are a Bill O’Reilly; no more a Rupert Murdoch than we are a Rumsfeld or Cheney. Reach out to let your fellow passengers to the grave know that you are not one who sanctions doing whatever one wants.
We are simple people, though our imperial image throws a gaudy cloak over it. We are a people who want peace, though the bullying arm of this administration decries that simple truth.
Let me offer, then, this fiat. I desire life for all - therefore, I strive to do what is right.
BE FREE.
VOTE.