The true American Dream is made of basically one thing: Independence.
People talk a lot about Freedom, but what is that really?
To me, Freedom is a word that is more abused in our society than any other word. Sure Freedom means freedom of speech, religion and all of the other freedoms that the constitution guarantees. However, the freedoms it talks about in the constitution are those guaranteed by the Government only. It “implies” that people should give freedoms to others as well, but that is not what the constitution is about.
Clearly there are laws where the government helps defend the common freedoms between people in a society, but that isn’t the principle function of the government. The constitution is really only about how the government acts towards the people in the country, not about how people treat each other.
So, are we really free?
Can we really state our opinions freely and not risk the pressures of forces that disagree with us?
Are we really free from intimidation, black listing, prejudice and ostracism?
Obviously not.
The infighting that goes on in America is both alarming and dangerous. The attitudes that the people have between each other and foreigners in this country are continually evaporating and our freedoms are constantly being attacked by those who proclaim freedom as a battle cry the most.
This is why the “Freedom” cry is such a superficial principle. We aren’t going to ever be free until we lay down our arms against our fellow citizens.
Honestly, anyone who denies that this is the case is frankly not in tune with the pulse of the nation. Even worse than that we have leaders who condone and foster such terrible freedom stripping attitudes and behaviors.
What every person wants in this country is independence from the power of others. People are individuals, and individuals want to be able to be who they are without fear of his fellow citizens.
Fear Destroys Lives
If we all are not defending the right to everyone’s independence, then we are no better than those who would attack our country with bombs, suicide attacks and cyber attacks.
The right to individual independence is what people hold dear the most, and that is deeper and broader than the simple statement of freedom.
The Deeper Danger of the Suppression of an Individual’s Independence.
The complete reason of what made this country a leader in the world is that people were given the green light to challenge long held principles in philosophy, politics, religion, science, art and about the way things work in the world in general.
When you depress the creative spirit of an individuals desire to seek new ways by challenging long held beliefs that could change the course of the world for the better, then you lose the edge of invention and the high flying principles of industry and commerce become old and stagnant.
Salvation from committing national suicide is definitely not going to be achieved by demeaning and disenfranchising others but by opening the floodgates of creativity through a society that embraces an individual’s many differences. It isn’t through agreement that we can move forward but through an honest debate about differing ideas about how things are done.
Change is not really a good thing. Getting better is really what it is all about. Unless we get better at being a truly freedom loving people that stops pointing fingers at others and tearing down someone else because they don’t agree with the way we think, there is little hope that this country can continue to lead the world.
People have this disease of wanting to find “THE ANSWER” to all problems and the fact is, that will never happen. There is no one answer. The answers we seek in our lives are determined by the questions that are asked, the problems we are faced with and the factors which influence those questions or problems.
One of the basic problems in the American attitude is that there is only one answer to all problems. This has never held true in any society, and the reason why societies fail is because they seek “The One and Only Answer” for all things.
When the discussion about capitalism, socialism, communism, fascism, democracy, monarchy, dictatorship, liberal or conservative comes up people all pick one and say that is what they believe in. While some of these are inherently evil, there are people who align themselves with one of these as a lifelong principle.
The truth is, none of those things above are “The One and Only Answer” because necessity requires elements of several of them so that a civilization can endure. Indeed, most of the principles above exist in our society as a matter of fact and we are in agreement with them but don’t realize actually that we do when you define it in terms of the function in society. You probably participate in almost all of these ideas in one way or the other.
For instance, communism still exists in the world and there are different types. If you look at North Korea you will say that it is obviously a failed idea. If you look at China you’d have to admit they are doing some things right. What makes them different?
They are different because China has recognized that it had to adopt a wider number of principles in order to survive. North Korea will not endure, because it doesn’t. The Soviet Bloc failed because it adhered to a strict communism/dictatorship form and didn’t adapt to the changing requirements of the world.
So, when we take America, it must become obvious that capitalism is not the only thing we practice. Socialism and communism, are used as well, and that is a good thing, because it is more economical to share resources for the good of all because in capitalism the street runs both ways, to and from the consumer. Socialism, or communism, is the street and everyone needs the street so we share resources to build the street. It is a common need.
In the entire scope of things we as a nation must embrace and learn from the differing ideas that could make our entire civilization better because that is really what we are trying to become. The idea is civilization at its best.
All for one and one for all, is the basic principle of individual freedom and responsibility. We cannot do it all one way and thus we shouldn’t.
It all begins with burying the hatchet that we use to attack each other because we differ on ideas and begin to try and understand the philosophy that we disagree with and by studying it understand how we can incorporate it into our lives.