Although I have lived in America all my life, these past six months, particularly the past six weeks, have really made me think about where we’ve come from and where we’re headed.
To get where we are we fought hard for our independence. Now I feel we are at a crossroads, still independent and yet timid in expressing our freedom. I feel our democracy slowly slipping away from us and we can’t let that happen. No matter who may want it to happen. We fought too hard for it. Many battles were won. Many lives were lost. To get where we are today fifty-six individuals signed a document stating that Americans were free to seek “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”.
Today when I think of these three words it occurs to me that in order to pursue “happiness” we must first have “life” and “liberty”. The fact that a lot of money-grubbing politicians want to make access to healthcare unaffordable or even impossible for most puts a damper on the whole “life” thing. It’s kind of difficult to lead a productive life if one has to worry about being able to afford medical care for themselves and their loved ones while trying to put food on the table as well.
The definition of “liberty” is: “the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one’s way of life, behavior, or political views”. Apparently some people forgot this word was part of the Declaration of Independence when they decided to ban individuals from coming to America because their life was full of turmoil somewhere else in the world. The meaning was forgotten when they decided to ban people of a certain religion, but only the ones of that religion from specific countries. Nobody in North Carolina knew what “liberty” meant when they felt it necessary to create a “bathroom bill”. Obviously the White House has no idea what “liberty” means as every day they oppress the very people who are America’s first eyes and ears: journalists. They should really pay attention to the key words in the definition of “liberty” that say “free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority”. And apparently even people in Congress have no idea what “liberty” means. If they did know they wouldn’t be seeking the voter details of American citizens. You want my name, address, age, last four of my Social Security number, party affiliation? Fuck you. Because it’s my “liberty” to keep that private. Especially from the likes of what is clearly appearing to be a very corrupt United States government.
Right now because of our rights to “life” and “liberty” being tampered with, I don’t know how anyone can pursue happiness. Who can be “happy” with all this shit going on?
America may have come a long way in 241 years but it still has a very long way to go. With luck the direction will be forward instead of backwards.
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