Free Yourself

The founders of this nation believed that the only adhesive that would hold a country of diverse people together was the natural affection people develop among themselves despite differences. Without this natural affection, which comes from the simple interactions of everyday life, the cohesiveness that binds people together as a nation is lost - and the grand experiment of democracy fails. We lose it all.

We are witnessing that failure today, and it is mostly due to the deception of political gamesmanship.

We are witnessing political strategists who work hard to find ways of disparaging whole swathes of people in order to separate and manipulate just enough voters to fuel a contest of ideologies that, in the end, and not far off, will destroy everything we ultimately believe in. Plain and simple, it is difficult to think of a more devious, greed-driven plot than this homegrown, multifaceted betrayal of American ideals.

We have long heard the systematic disparagement of liberalism from the other side. We now hear a growing condemnation of conservatism in return that is guaranteed to produce even sharper divisions. Those in power shamelessly promulgate this artificially driven animosity, even as it cripples the carefully constructed governmental system that our founders gave us. The powers that be would destroy everything to win, even though their idea of winning is nothing more than a crassly shifting stalemate of dysfunction.

Misguided, half-baked ideologies, inciting anger and lack of cooperation, are leading this nation to ruin. Those who are pushing this include politicians, strategists, dedicated think-tanks, media propagandists (including whole networks dedicated to one side or the other), and hoards of converted followers who have been conditioned to see the world through the obnoxious prism of rank partisanship. (You can recognize them by their contrived talking points.)

The "land of the free" is becoming a land of closed-minded antagonists - and there is no antithesis to freedom as vicious or as certain as the mind that is shackled by its own prejudices.

Consider the rhetoric we hear about tyranny, dictatorship, ridiculous conspiracy theories, imaginary plots to disarm private citizens, ideological concentration camps, the infiltration of religious terrorists, the illegitimacy of a president who twice won popular election, death panels, secret minority agendas - the list goes on and on, manufactured by professional propagandists. Even science is now treated as an expendable commodity. These claims, quite frankly, are all based on lies, blatantly so, and yet people persist in believing them! Can America be America with no respect for truth, civility and simple reason? Surely the founders thought otherwise.

With this in mind, I make an impassioned plea to all of all my fellow citizens. Step back for a moment. Calm down. Has your life changed so dramatically in the past ten years? Mine hasn't. I enjoy the same freedoms I always have despite all the claims that the sky is falling.

Your neighbors who vote for a different congressperson than you do are just people like yourself who care about their families and want the best for this nation. You probably wave at them as they pass by without a second thought. These fellow citizens are being demonized by the paranoia of political rhetoric - just as you are being demonized by the paranoia on the other side.

Now is not the time for shallow thinking. Become the citizens that a democratic-republic deserves.

Stop listening to the lies and banter of those who twist the system for political gain. Just because a media personality or blogger one says something outrageous does not make it true. In fact, as recent history suggests, it probably isn't. Take the time to find the real truth in this sea of falsehood. Listen to the other side now and then. Try to imagine how they see and interpret what is opposite to their beliefs.

Our national problems are not insurmountable. They are just being portrayed as if they were. People make a lot of money doing that, and this selling out of our nation is as much of a betrayal as if they sold national secrets to some foreign enemy. Perhaps worse, for they undercut who we are as a people, trading the happiness that is within our grasp for vile discontent.

Freedom of speech is not equivalent to freedom to lie, even when it allows it. If it were, than it would not be an ideal for a people who were meant to be honorable.

Whenever you hear a politician spout off about that "American people want this," or "the American want that," it is time to perk up. They are not talking about the real American people, who own a richness of diverse opinions and should enjoy a wonderful spirit of tolerance. They are talking about their benefactors who are paying them to lead us astray, or supporters who have surrendered their integrity of thought for party lines.

Honorable people keep their promises. When you take the Pledge of Allegiance, you are making a commitment to our singular republic, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. For honorable people, that automatically takes talk of secession off the table. For honorable people, it means supporting freedom and justice for everyone, despite differences. It is time we take that seriously, or admit our own surrender to treachery.

The well-being of this nation is in our hands. We must not become mouthpieces to those who would bring it to ruin. The real problem we face is political corruption. All the rest is meant to distract us from what is going on just below the surface. Such distraction has brought ruin to many nations of the past, just as it is doing to us now.

Please take this warning seriously. The ideals that America was founded upon are being trampled before our eyes by those who claim to be patriots. Find the integrity in yourself to discard the labels of liberal, conservative, libertarian, socialist, and tea party whatever, and instead, embrace the responsibility of being a thoughtful citizen, committed to truth, who is not easily led astray.

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