Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness
How Important are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness?
Extremely!
The First Amendment of the US Constitution makes many promises. Those promises surge deep within American souls. The freedoms are the essence of our optimism and hope. As children, we learned we live in a free country where we can achieve any dream we prepare and work for. Since 1776, Americans have enjoyed freedom of speech, freedom of religion, the freedom to bear arms and so many other privileges.
Have people abused those rights at times? Absolutely. Has the American philosophy included prejudice and cruelty in its history? It has. But we've always been willing to be corrected, to evolve and to improve.
Today we’re experiencing change. We find ourselves shaken by events we never anticipated. Our beautiful freedoms are under attack. There are among us people who do not support a free-spirited, happy, and optimistic population. Some people malign everything America stands for and they have caused serious damage to our Constitution. We’ve always known some politicians and special interest groups believe our freedoms grant us too much control.
Sadly, we have underestimated the danger, thinking most people cherish our way of life. We love and respect the generations before us, the generations that fought and died to preserve our amazing Constitution. We believed these enemies of freedom were few in number.
We tolerated liberal professors who’ve traditionally worked to undermine our Constitution and reprogram our young people to believe Socialism is a better political philosophy. For generations, people have exited college with liberal views. However, life, work, family, faith, and reality quickly dilute the hypothetical theories they've heard and they soon embrace the values of their youth again.
It took a lot of lies and accusations to turn Americans against each other. We have traditionally been a “live and let live” kind of people. A people who sincerely believed our Constitution would protect us from an internal takeover. Once Covid was unleashed on us, in less than two years the unthinkable happened. We found every freedom we cherished under attack. What did it take to destroy our affection for each other?
- A pandemic
- Accusations that some people were too selfish to get vaccinated.
- An all-out media assault on a sitting US President
- A media blitz stating middle aged and senior Trump supporters attacked the very Capital building they have revered for generations.
- Battles over Masks
- Closed schools
- Exaggerated Covid-19 death counts
- Relentless levitating graphics of spiked red virus images floating on our television screens while reporters intoned terrifying Pandemic rumors and warning.
- Hushed newscasters hinting the unvaccinated are trying to maim or kill their families and friends.
- Open accusations mass shootings are tied to the NRA as well as hunters and supporters of the Second Amendment.
- George Floyd and an inflamed racial divide
- Media stories tying Republicans to homophobic behavior
- Women’s issues
These explosive issues are intended to divide and separate all of us. There is another truth. Most Conservatives are church going people who still take flowers to family and military graves on Memorial Day. They love baseball and hotdogs and the American Flag. They’re not often involved in broad-based cultural experiences but that doesn’t make them prejudiced. They hated what happened to George Floyd and in many cases began to question profiling and unfair police tactics. But they still support the police because they’ve seen how out of control and scary a defunded police force can be.
They are not homophobic. They most closely represent everyone’s grandparents, aunts and uncles. They do not understand any effort to divide America. They don’t believe friendships are based on politics, religion or sexual orientation.
It’s an uncomfortable notion this greatest of all countries could actually fall. Most of us grew up believing we could never lose our freedoms. We’re free to criticize our government. We’re free to bear arms, move about from state to state. We’re free to start a business, free to set creative and outrageous goals. America was built on the premise of freedom of religion and independent thought.
We hear about other countries where every move is regulated by strict and dictatorial leaders. Now, for the first time in nearly 250 years, we realize there are enemies within our borders. I am reminded of Nikita Khrushchev’s vow in October 1960, that Russia would defeat us without firing a shot. Many laughed at such a preposterous idea. But that is exactly what is happening.
How did this happen? When did it begin? We can look to higher education and the critical view academics give our young people when they go to college. But that’s been going on forever. Student’s minds explode with ideas and concepts as they are introduced to different cultures and experiences. They hear criticism of our culture, its mistakes and shortcomings. They learn new perspectives.
Back in the day, such expansion of ideas was presented in higher education only. Today we hear anti-American values being presented to children as young as five years old.
Can American values be fairly criticized? Of course. Our history has blemishes and pain. If you feel like you are losing your freedoms, you are!
Selah!