Finding America

America, land of the free, home of the brave, or is it?  Certainly, we enjoy more freedoms than many other countries this may be true, it may even be said that we are founded on the concepts of freedom, so why would we allow them to be taken away from us?  Like many of the rare books in libraries our liberty is being eroded in a slow burn, so slow many acquiesce without realizing the full impact of their docile and increasingly dependent ways.  Where is the fighting spirit and independent nature we once had, how far have we fallen from what we once believed, under the belief that we are making things better?

The resistance to change is natural, so it should be no surprise that people still want to believe our media produces the truth, however, they have fallen prey to corporate and political motives, no longer the unbiased truth seeking hero’s and heroine’s they once were.  Instead they feed us lies and half-truths designed to facilitate the motives of their shareholders and political alignments.  Our hero’s have fallen and we have been left to seek out the truth ourselves, sifting through the world wide web, researching and utilizing our life experience to find as close to the truth as we can. Yet when we find our truths do we act?

Even if we could discern the truth of a matter, would we act?  There have been a great many high profile events recently such as, the Boston Marathon Bombing, the Sandyhook shootings, and the Movie theatre shooting that have been plastered and debated with great rigor.  Some using the misfortunes to wrestle more liberties away from law abiding citizens, others claiming conspiracy, and others who have no idea what to believe.  Recently, it seems some government officials are capitalizing on tragedy to further their own agenda, not shocking, but what is shocking is the general acquiescence of the American public. 

During the search for the second suspect involved in the Boston Marathon Bombing officials searched the homes of and vehicles of law abiding citizens.  Videos show families being marched out of their house with their hands on their heads as if they were criminals, several sources within a 5 mile radius have confirmed that some of these citizens felt they had no choice.  On one hand I suppose the bomber could have held a family hostage so searching property may have necessary, on the other hand as a law abiding citizen I would not under any circumstances appreciate being marched out of my house with my hands on my head like a criminal.  Likewise, with the sudden flare up in gun control debates following Sandyhook, is absurd.

 

It’s corporal punishment for America, where the general population will now suffer for the actions of a few.  Where the government cajoles and manipulates people into thinking that striping away more liberties is the only way to create more safety.  America, where we are sinking lower in our education and blindly following media and political agendas.  Where we no longer stop to think for ourselves, and have forgotten how to dig down and fight for what we once believed in! 

Is it really okay to detain a person and give them absolutely no rights?  Is that what we stand for?  Is it okay for the American people to be judge, jury, and executioner?  Regardless of the heinous act committed, shouldn’t due process be afforded.  No doubt, many of my readers are shaking their head in disbelief at my insistence that we treat even Dzhokhar Tsarnaev with fairness and equality.  Yet, isn’t that what we are supposed to be about?  I teach my children tolerance, I teach them love, and after Sandyhook I taught them preservation techniques to the best of my ability, but I did not teach them to judge, I did not teach them hate.  There is a legal system designed to uphold the law and punish criminals, there should not be a way to circumvent that system, to exile a person without due process, we are not a dictatorship yet! 

I do not understand why some of these people have done what they do, but I know some were mentally ill, others misguided, some filled with hate, some dissatisfied with our government and longing to start a revolution and make a change, whatever their motives, they should still be afforded due process.  Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was young and impressionable he was 19, I’ve not yet heard his story, nor do I have proof of his level of involvement but I do know that Unabomber Ted >Kaczynski had a much longer reign of terror and even he was allowed due process, and serves life in prison, and I do know it is not my place to judge.

Are people really so foolish that they believe taking weapons out of the hands of law abiding citizens is the answer, do they really believe that the drug dealers and the criminals, the terrorists and the crazies will give up their weapons and turn in their illegal weapons?  Think about it for a moment.  There is an entire town in Georgia that mandates every head of household own a gun and the crime rate dropped!  Criminals target easy prey, they don’t want to work that hard, if they know a town is armed they are less likely to go into that town with malicious intent. 

Is it really so hard for people to see that they can no longer trust the media, particularly since the media had repeatedly gotten their stories wrong and had to apologize! It is so easy to blame someone else, anyone else, and that is what America is becoming, America the unaccountable.  It is time to soul search America, it is time to look within yourself, find those faults and flaws and own them.  Stop pointing to other people and other countries and look to yourself, take a good long look and become accountable again, become liberating again, find that fighting spirit, the independent nature, that hard worker who will not fail because he has spirit.  Don’t sacrifice yourselves and your liberty for these false senses of security, secure yourself and your household, help your neighbors secure theirs if you must, be united, be the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 

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