This Magnificent Freedom

taken from patriciarossi.com

My heart is full on this Independence Day. I love this country which nurtured freedom in all its messy splendor. I love the Constitution of the United States which bound in place the rights we have enjoyed and taken so for granted. I love the way I feel when I see our flag in all its majesty, waving and snapping in the breeze. I love the hospitality and generosity we have enjoyed and given.

We are the brassy Americans. We expect too much. We're loud and obnoxious. We put up with too much and not enough. Sometimes we're embarrassed. Sometimes we wish our fellow citizens had more heart, less brass, and more understanding.

I wonder if this Fourth will be the last we'll see in this country? Will there be fireworks next year--the good kind? Or will we have lapsed into chaos and tyranny? Will the next July 4ths be spent within the ribbon wire of camps?

With every passing day there are more indications that we are in for a difficult ride. I don't mean a dip in the economy. For the most part, we are a hardy and hard working people. We try to do what's right. We pay our taxes. We raise our children to be strong, upstanding people. We have weathered dips in the past. No. This will be much worse--a perfect, anticipated, and man-made storm.

We work hard, but we also leave problems to others. We hide in the bathroom while our leaders sell us down the river for their own personal gain. There is only one outcome for that. There will be a world of "have-nots", and a few very powerful, very evil "haves". We won't be "haves". That's a not-so-distant future fact. We will not be driving our own destinies.

There'll be people who read this and call me a freak and a kook. So be it. I have eyes to look and have seen the signs. I cannot ignore them any longer, though I wish it were not so. I think sometimes people forget about what happened to the Jews in Germany or to the Katangans or the Chinese or millions of Russians. That wasn't so long ago. It was real. It came about because the people did nothing or not enough and too late. We blindly think we're safe. Not so. It can and will happen here.

The Prayer at Valley Forge by artist Arnold Friberg

We think we are immune from such incredible misfortunes. Not so. When we allow the underpinnings of our rights to be pulled away one by one (or now by the boatloads), we ensure that the rats can get in and chew away at our protection. Well, my friends, the rats are IN. We've sold our rights for trifles.

taken from toddstocker.wordpress.com

Instead of mourning our uncertain future, I'll celebrate what we have had in the past. Sure there were problems. There are in ALL countries because they are lived in, ruled, and run by humans with human failings. But our country was special. We offered asylum from oppression. We have a giant statue in our harbor which reads, "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free..."

We buckled on our work boots, tied on our bonnets, and went out to wring a living from the soil. We learned the language, built our towns and our cities. We forged a country. Our universities pumped out incredible amounts of talent and skill. We rose to the top few countries in technology, medicine, and science. We have gifted authors, artists, actors, and musicians. We have wrought beauty so achingly magnificent it nearly stops the heart.

We have gone to the aid of others with military, and with humanitarian aid. We have dug wells in Africa, given food to earthquake victims in Chile, succored the homeless tsunami victims in Indonesia. Our soldiers fought two World Wars and many smaller conflicts in the aid of other countries, against oppression.

As with everything, there were always people who disagreed with both domestic and foreign policy. I won't pretend that even most of the decisions have been good ones, especially in the recent past. The beauty of it is that we could disagree and know that we would still come home to our families and homes afterwards, without fear of being shipped off to a gulag somewhere. We could vote for the person who we felt best represented our interests. We could even be that representative.

All of this was set into being by some very dedicated men and women who loved freedom and knew what tyranny was. They wanted to limit the possibilities for dictatorship by an unfeeling government. They worked hard and gave everything (sometimes including their lives and all their money) to ensure the safety of this budding country. They bound the government with ropes at every juncture of which they could conceive.

taken from wilsoninfo.com

What have we done with it?

We need to wake up. We need to go back to work instead of expecting someone to hand us everything free on a platter. We need to see the demons for who they are and expose their infamy. We need to put good men in the leadership positions in this country, instead of merely putting men in who have been bought. We must appreciate the many blessings and rights and opportunities we have. We need to stop berating those who open their mouths in warning. We cannot continue to shoot every messenger who brings us unpleasant news. We do, after all, supposedly have the freedom to speak. 

And we need to pray. If we stand with God, God stands with us.