The news channels report that today's Inaugural Speech will focus on Freedom. How ironic, because Freedom seems to be diminishing in our country. Freedom in America has always meant that American citizens enjoy the right to live in a free society -- freedom to worship, freedom to express, freedom to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
Today, Freedom does not apply to everyone -- we all do not have the same rights as each other. Some are being denied rights that others enjoy. This denial of rights is based upon prejudice. We are told that we need to focus on "family values," that "family values" are what can bring us all together. We are told that our current Administration places Family Values high on its legislative priority list. We are told that "liberal values" are not "America's values" -- that morality and family values need to be protected from liberals. Since when have liberal values -- education, healthcare, equal rights for
all -- been so awful? Are not "family values" something to be addressed by
FAMILIES?
In our country today, many rights to privacy are being trampled on in the name of "homeland security." In our country today, gays and lesbians are being denied rights that "straight" people enjoy -- gays and lesbians are denied their right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." How is it possible that we are allowing our government to develop and pass "Jim Crow" laws that discriminate against our gays and lesbians? Gays and Lesbians are
citizens of the United States, they pay taxes just like "straight" citizens -- how can we allow
even one citizen of the United States to be discriminated against through legislation? Diminishing even one citizen's rights cannot possible be a "Family Value."
In a country founded on the right to religious freedom, how can we allow one religious group to dictate how all of us "
should" live? What does religion have to do with sexual preference, for example?
Nothing. Yet, somehow we have allowed a large group of conservative Christians to begin the downhill slide of legislating so-called "morality" (in the guise of "family values") -- What in the world are we doing legislating
how people live?
One group of American citizens is composed of conservative Christians, but they are only ONE group. Their self-rightouesness does not make them right. They are not the entire nation, they do not represent the entire nation. We
are a diverse nation, yet they want to erase diversity. They want to force everyone to live the way THEY determine we should live. They are a powerful group, and they are led by and encouraged by the current Administration. Our Administration is supposed to represent ALL of the citizens of this country. It does not.
How can we allow our government to deny diversity? It is not the job of the United States government to impose the values of
one group upon the
entire nation.
Is that not exactly from what we are supposedly liberating Iraq? "Operation Freedom?" In today's Inaugural Speech, we will hear about Freedom, and how we are spreading Freedom around the world. We will not hear the truth. We will not be told that while our Administration "spreads Freedom around the world," our Administration plans to legislate discrimination against some of our own citizens. "Operation Freedom" does not exist within the United States of America. The irony is clear.
As we listen today to an Inaugural Speech filled with patriotic, stirring words that focus on Freedom, I hope our media tells the truth about this Administration's concept of "Freedom" in today's world. I hope our citizens realize the truth: we are losing our Freedoms, and we have allowed a fraudulent and deceptive catch-phrase mentality to become our national "identity" -- our reality. We have allowed patriotism to equate with prejudice and fear, and we have become an international disgrace.
"Freedom?" It is slipping away from us, one precious right after another.
Our founders, our forefathers and our foremothers, our activists -- our citizens -- have fought and died for over 200 years for Equality and Freedom. We are supposed to be the Land of the Free. I hope America can look in the mirror and see that we have allowed ourselves to become
the Land of the Some-Are-More-Free-Than-Others.
