I received a message from Brother David this morning on this exact topic. I responded to an assertion that this is something new. On the contrary – what we face happens all the time and throughout history just before the fall of every great nation when people equate irresponsibility and recklessness – licentiousness with freedom.
Allowing free expression is essential to growth, but knowing what to say and when is crucial to the republic’s survival. It’s like yelling fire in a crowded theater – you can, but should you? We forget that freedom implies responsibility and a willingness to agree to disagree. It allows everyone a choice of what and who to believe. The most difficult of all is deciding what’s most important: the Republic or the Individual.
Survival of both is necessary and supports each other. Without a strong sense of self, the Republic falls. Without a vibrant Republic, the individual withers. It is the very definition of symbiosis – living together for mutual benefit; this symbiosis creates a crucial balance between self and state. There is contention and struggle to restore harmony when either dominates.
If this competition continues, you have what permeates our country today. A government gone mad in a massive power grab and a bewildered populace wondering what happened to their lives.
Who’s fanning the flames of discontent?
The Media Industrial Complex is complicit by broadcasting the insanity and editing the relevant background and story to enhance their narrative. They stir the pot and never take responsibility – another misinterpreted freedom.
Freedom implies responsibility – not licenses to misbehave – burn down cities, rape, pillage, and plunder, or destroy monuments that remind us of where we began. How can you measure progress if you erase the markers of your journey? And… how can you prevent making similar errors in the future when you remove these reminders?
Germany preserved several Extermination Camps as a reminder of the atrocities committed against undesirables. They stand as an example of absolutism in all facets of Germany’s past.
How can anyone call to defund law enforcement? They are our conscience when good sense fails and we choose an anti-social direction – breaking the law.
Don’t they hold us all accountable? Are they not an extension of our conscience? It’s apparent that we are incapable of self-governance or even self-control. See the example in Marxist cities in our country.
Many are out of control, sinking into anarchy. Businesses and individuals flee for self-protection and preservation. Citizens of these states migrate to safer climes, much like the undesirables in WWII Central Europe.
The evidence in Democrat-Socialist, i.e., Marxist-run cities, refutes the preposterous claims of any social gain from eliminating the police. These cities are examples of this failed experiment, yet they refuse to admit they are wrong and do more harm than good. Are they beyond repair – and – chronically staying their course?
It all seems like nonsense and lunacy. But that’s where we are today because we decided that unbounded freedom was preferable to restraint and responsibility. Anything is permissible when wrapped in “freedom of expression” because “the end justifies the means.”
I hope that phrase haunts the Democrat leadership for the rest of time because it ruined this Republic.
We judged the individual’s rights as paramount, ignoring the impact on society to the detriment of our Republic.
My article demonstrates a few caveats to any freedom, at least in my mind, and I’m confident they rang true when James Madison and friends drafted the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
Constitutional awareness – aka civics – was a primary mainstay in Classical American education that we sadly abandoned in favor of the Marxist ideology.
A Republic cannot survive an uninformed populace – look around and witness the results. Better yet, investigate ancient Rome – read their history. Discover what brought down their empire.
As Forrest Gump said: “Stupid is as stupid does...”
I’m confident the authors of the Constitution had in mind that these rights would be exercised with restraint, reason, responsibility, and conscience. It’s funny that these are things missing in our society and every facet of our lives.
We’ve conveniently interpreted our rights to allow carte blanche license and privilege to act and say anything that comes into our empty little heads without thinking: Our elephantine passions overload our meager capacity for reason.
Here’s an interesting note I discovered while researching this column. Jefferson wanted to include conscience in the Freedom of Expression provisions in the Constitution. We grouped speech, the press, peaceful assembly, and petitioning into expression.
The dichotomy of this Hamas war on Zion strikes me as incongruous. How is it permissible for any country to attack another without retaliation – in kind – by those they attacked? Regardless of the weapons or atrocities, it’s only fair to expect retribution and retaliation, but then, war is never fair… and Americans rarely think before bloviating an ill-considered position, a testament to our meager capacity for reason…
Imagine America giving Japan a free pass for bombing Pearl Harbor or The Shrub (Little Bush #43) blowing off the attack on the World Trade Center – even though he did accuse the wrong actors. I suppose our expectations have diminished over time. We used to elect leaders instead of puppets, but alas, that’s another commentary about another time. We used to elect leaders, not sycophants. Today, our elections are popularity contests and beauty pageants.
The lingering issue for me is our insistence on free expression as long as it agrees with our views but condemns those who oppose us – censorship? That would mean it’s not free but reserved and contingent on some intangible but visceral emotion or passion and who holds power in government. Who gets to define acceptability – the ministry of truth?
Who manages the managers?
My views on flag burning are unyielding, and although I disagree vehemently… I allow others their right to that act. If our image as a republic is based solely on an icon, we have an identity crisis and more significant issues.
I find self-immolation abhorrent, but if a Buddhist Monk is willing to sacrifice himself to make a point, who am I to douse his passions?
We applaud hunger strikes and the people whose convictions strengthen their resolve, but only when we agree with that sentiment.
Where’s the freedom in that attitude?
The 2020 Summer of Love is prima facie irresponsibility and a salient example of licentiousness. Egged on by the Media Industrial Complex and several cults with carnage and mayhem in mind, we excused an estimated $2 Billion in damages as freedom of expression. I’m constantly amazed at how redefining a word changes the event from reprehensible to allowable.
The activities in the summer of 2020 were riots. They were NOT examples of free expression as intended by the Constitution. And… for the record, the Constitution includes explicitly “Peaceful” in the Right of Assembly.
Likewise, abortion is a dilemma I wrestle with, but I cannot make that decision for the mother; that is between her, her conscience, and her concept of God.
Most significantly, I am not her judge, nor do I wish to be, but I am free to express my opinion as long as I’m not breaking the law or harming anyone in protest. There is no apparent distinction between the laws of man and those of God. However, we’ve conveniently inserted several that we call rationalizations, like “the end justifies the means,” to circumvent their intent.
As I’ve expressed recently, I am against abortion – personally – but I am biologically and self-defined as male and biologically unable to bear children; I don’t see pregnancy in my future. But I can hold and voice my views if I don’t force that opinion on anyone. Everyone has a choice and freedom to believe as they wish. Everyone has a choice and can do as they want if they accept the consequences of their decision.
The looming question is… Why are we – America – involved in this ideological contest?
The American ProHamas Cartel – aka The Squad – demands that America broker a ceasefire between Israelis and their attackers to stop the senseless killing of innocent Gazans.
That’s their right!
Where was The Squad when Hamas attacked Israel?
It must be a biased view that sponsors violence against their enemies. Yet, they have a right to that opinion.
Is Israel’s retaliation and retribution for Hamas’ attack actual or invented, and are these events intended to foster some faith-based hatred? We all know, no love is lost between the Arab world and Israel.
Why, then, is America involved?
Is America ready to trigger WWIII in the Middle East?
It will surely escalate into global conflict because of the other actors involved. The New Axis of Evil will not stand idle while we bully our way in to help Israel.
· The New Axis of Evil = China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and a clandestine cadre of other Middle Eastern countries with an all-consuming of everything American: except our money, of course.
Is America the pawn in another game of international chess?
Who are the players – who are moving the pieces?
I’m sure it’s the Military-Industrial Congressional Complex on our side, but is the New Axis of Evil in the other seat?
Yes, there are American citizens in Gaza and Israel, and we should work to secure their release, but direct involvement is reserved for our closest allies and friends. Israel is our ally and friend.
Is Ukraine a close ally and friend? Why are we dumping (another) $105 Billion into a country without actual ties?
They need America – for our money – just like every country whose fealty we try to purchase.
Gandhi warned us that “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind,” but there is also this wisdom from Bertrand Russell – Know thy self, know thy enemy: a thousand battles, a thousand victories. War does not determine who is right – only who is left. War: a massacre of people who don’t know each other for the profit of people who know each other but don’t massacre each other.”
Did you get that?
People kill each other for the leaders who start the war, but leaders will not kill each other. The leaders keep their hands clean because someone else does their killing.
Congress – the opposite of progress sends America’s soldiers to war, but not their children. What good is power if you can’t keep your children safe at home by sending someone else’s?
Rank has its privileges…
Mr. Russell’s thought poses a valid point. Who’s fighting and pulling the strings to instigate the fight, and why? Know thy enemy!
My favorite cartoon panel is from Pogo by Walt Kelly – “We have met the enemy, and he is us…”
I don’t live in either of those countries or even in the contested region, so I base my comments on what I see and read courtesy of the Media Industrial Complex. By now, you should be intimately familiar with my feelings toward these rapacious miscreants.
· Rapacious shares the same Latin root word for rape…
Our misunderstood and literal interpretation of free speech really pisses me off; however, it fits within the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) legal parameters. As long as no laws are broken, anything is permissible. The ACLU’s legal premise is also in error. When you consider the allegations against President Trump, it all falls apart.
The federal, state, and local governments allege that his speech (opinions) insighted insurrection, and his lies – as they judge them – caused banks to loan his corporation money – all of which was repaid.
Trump dared to question an election’s legitimacy (his opinion), which allegedly harmed several state election boards irreparably. And that he conspired with others, so his actions violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corruption Organizations (RICO) Act, usually reserved for Organized Crime.
How is this different from Schumer, Waters, and the squad for calling for protests against Supreme Court Judges – at home and in public – for their decision in the Dobbs – abortion – case?
How are the Trump indictments different from Rashida Tlaib‘s comments to insight protesters to demand a ceasefire in the Israel – Hamas conflict, causing the mob to storm the Capital?
Isn’t this insurrection based on recent legal interpretations – those of the Jan 6 show trial and circus?
America, at the behest of Democrat-Socialists, controlled Congress – the opposite of progress – cost America $2.7 Billion – according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), on the January 6th Insurrection trials and circus – 1,100 people faced criminal charges, and 366 were sentenced based on carefully screened and edited evidence ensuring convictions.
· The GAO are the same astute financial wizards who paid $56,000 for a hammer and $26,000 for a toilet seat and authorized NASA to spend $9.29 Million to develop thixotropic ink for a pen to write in zero gravity; Russia used a pencil.
The primary difference is that during the Jan 6 miscarriage of justice, the Democrat-Socialist Party ran the government – meaning they controlled both houses of Congress – the basis for my assertion that Congress is the opposite of progress.
Since partisan politics interposed and interfered in government, we have seen the degradation of our intended Constitutional process. Partisan politics is wholly responsible for eradicating and abandoning the US Constitution through extra-legal means.
Remember, “the end justifies those means.”
Those with the power make the rules.
My recollection tells me that at one point, the citizens of this Republic had that power, and we traded it away to purchase temporary safety from a manufactured assailant.
I want to return to the exclusion of conscience from the First Amendment.
Conscience is “the sense or awareness of the moral goodness or blameworthiness of one’s conduct, intentions, or character, together with a feeling of obligation to do right or be good or a faculty, power, or principle enjoining good acts.”
Either we’ve had our consciences surgically removed, or we’ve been programmed to accept the Ministry of Truth as our moral arbiter. Who will defend, support, or stand with us in the final judgment?
Ah, Excuse me, God, I’d like to introduce the Ministry of Truth in my defense… They said it was all legal and righteous… Oh, did I mention it didn’t violate any laws…?
Our beliefs determine our conscience and, thereby, our actions. No man who believes in or accepts the existence of God lives immorally and acts reprehensibly. Even the non-Christian faiths place enormous value in a righteous life, except those ideologies perverted by men who use religion as tools for self-aggrandizement and rationalizing disgraceful behavior. Remember – “the end justifies the means.”
Our collective conscience is programmed into a corner by years of public school and anti-religious rhetoric spewing from the US Department of Ignorance to convince all the “Seid gute kleine Kinder und dem Staat gegenüber.” (be good little children and loyal to the state)
Regardless of where you choose to stand on these issues, the most important thing to remember is that we are all in this together, and the decisions and mistakes of one impact us all: Not One, Not Some, But All!
Freedom of Expression, Choice, Religion, and Conscience are not selectively apportioned or bestowed on people; they are Constitutional Rights for every American. If any citizen in the Republic is not free, then none of us are free. HOWEVER, we have laws that we must follow, and like freedom, they cannot be administered or applied selectively.
They apply to everyone – or no one.
This means that all decisions must be made with these six words in mind…
Not One, Not Some, But All…
“Already long ago, from when we sold our vote to no man, the People have abdicated our duties; for the People who once upon a time handed out military command, high civil office, legions — everything, now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and circuses.” ~ Juvenal
The government kept the Roman populace happy by distributing free food and staging huge spectacles. Juvenal called it bread and circuses…
I offer a special thank you to Friend Kastle for suggesting this title.
October 26, 2023
~ The Author ~
Charles R. Dickens was born in 1951, is a veteran of the Vietnam war, for which he volunteered, and the great-great grandson of the noted author, whose name he shares.
He is a fiercely proud American, who still believes this is the greatest country on the planet, with which we’ve lost control and certainly our direction. He grew up in moderate financial surrounding; we’re not rich by any stretch, but didn’t go hungry – his incredibly hard working father saw to that. As most from that era, he learned about life from his father, whose story would take too long to tell, other than to say that, he is also a fiercely proud American; a WWII and Korean war, veteran Marine.
Charlie was educated in the parochial system which, demanded that you actually learn something, and have capability to retain it before you advance. He attended several universities in pursuit of a bachelor’s degree, and chased the goose further to a master’s, and has retained some very definite ideas about education in this country.
In addition, Charlie is a retired blues guitar and vocalist – a musician. This was his therapy career. Nothing brings him as much joy as playing music, and he wishes that he could make a living at it… but alas… life goes on!