Liberty is Dead

That’s it. We’re done kids. The greatest experiment in democracy can’t survive long term. Our addiction to drama, turmoil, and petty bickering will kill it. Our passion for ridiculous drama is so ingrained, we invent them and call it news. Then, we quote this to each other like it’s from God’s mouth to our ears. Americans can no longer be happy except when quivering with indignation. We’re beyond caring whether our positions are supportable, as long as they make it possible for us to point at people, Jerry Springer style, and hold forth on their differences.

This county was founded on an argument; our governing precepts grew from a thousand arguments, and for two hundred years we have argued in order to grow. This was a good thing. Nowadays, we no longer argue with any sort of fact based premise. Nope, not us. We bicker. Our passions are rooted in contrived shallow positions on topics shaped by people who have a stake in the outcome, not a sincere ideological imperative. We disregard facts that don’t suit us and squabble with the carefree obstinacy of three year olds.

Perhaps we’ve reverted to childishness because the world is hard. If that’s the case, we deserve to lose American style democracy. Do you think founding this country was easy? Do you think wrestling with the unwieldy language to produce simple, clear rules that hold up over centuries was a first draft effort? The passion of our founders faltered in the wee hours, but it did not quit. These were remarkable people. What they did was unprecedented, radical and visionary.

What we’re like today is anything but. We lap up cheap shots like it’s the new mother’s milk. We hold truth, not as self evident, but as suspect. Our filters are more important to us than our liberty. Once upon a time, Americans were willing to die to safeguard liberty. At all costs, preserving the most basic cornerstone of American democracy was crucial. We don’t feel like that anymore; at least, not enough are frightened by the alternative to take a stand.

Why should we, when there are distractions like homosexuals and abortions and burning flags to proselytize upon? We get rabid upon issues of personal dislike, control and symbolism and never see our flag of liberty captured. It happens all the time. It happened today.

CNN’s headline was a blaring “Obama Supporter: God Delivered Me From Homosexuality”. Inside, the article was full of divisive rhetoric mocking the relevancy of having disparate viewpoints on the Obama stage. The blacks loved it, the gays hate it, blah blah blah. We are stupid to buy into the red herrings, here, and CNN should be razed for running with it. It’s just a ruse to objectify a candidate whose appeal is so broad he’s a real threat to the hate mongers. They’ve done all they can do to separate “their” people. The current objective is to divide the rest of us into powerless fringe factors.

As long as we follow this lead, we desecrate our democracy. Trifling in the fringes, wallowing in the petty sniping of backroom agendas, we leave our liberty vulnerable to the planners of the Patriot Act, demolishers of the FISA protections, purveyors of Read ID, and the hundreds of small attacks crumbling liberty day in and day out.

It’s hard to break out from the easy ire and look for the facts. Fleshing out your personal opinion with facts, and not rhetoric, takes time and self reflection. Beyond that, it requires putting America in front of personal agenda. Breaking the strangle hold of talking points leaves a void that most don’t want to deal with. It’s hard to invest yourself in liberty; she’s not flashy, trendy or hip, she’s just oxygen.

If you divide us from her, we all fall.

If there is one thing the internet has given us, it’s an eyeful of ourselves. There are a lot of bright, passionate, caring, selfless, strong, diverse, original thinkers on the net. I’m always learning something new, seeing a point of view I hadn’t considered or revising an opinion that no longer seems based on all the facts. On the surface, with such an amazing tool, it seems liberty has never been safer. The arena for discourse and truth is infinite. We have the ability to override false media, watchdog our government, and protect liberty without violence.

How truly scary the internet must have seemed to the neocon agenda, which required fear and subversion for success. They undermined this tool frequently and well, the resultant chaos personified in the barking world of blogs, the corporate paid non-news stuffed insidiously into Americans faces at six o’clock every night and the lapdog media, dutifully carrying the talking points uninvestigated to the people in exchange for just being allowed into the pressroom.

Until we learn to wield our internet tool better than the liberty snatchers, liberty is in dire peril. We have bolder and greater access to the truth than any time in history. The questions are, can we put down the gossip pipe and wean ourselves from cheap-shots crack in order to save ourselves? Do enough of us want to?

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