What is America, after all?

One of the greatest things about Freedom of Speech is the ability to criticize one's country without having to worry about having ones head chopped off.  And one of the greatest responsibilities of Freedom of Speech is to say that something is wrong when it is.

Criticizing, or taking a critical approach to a subject, does not make one anti-American or Unpatriotic as some would have you think.  It is not about bashing America.

To stand in silence, or to follow party line, is enabling and that is how America has been so successfully able to avoid the responsibility of its wrong doings and the failure to correct them.

Education is the enemy – and I do not mean that in a derogatory manner.  If one does not read, learn, and see the injustices, then one is comfortable in standing up and saying that America is the banner of freedom, democracy and the right way.  Lack of education validates the fourth of July, Thanksgiving Day, Memorial Day, etc.  We get that warm pride reciting stories about a young George Washington, who after chopping down a cherry tree, said: “I cannot tell a lie”. 

Or of a Thanksgiving Day in which the Pilgrims were so happy about their bounty, they invited and shared a meal with the Native Americans.  And there was peaceful harmony throughout the land.

Education, study, and learning American History destroys those flamboyant tails spun around a wanna-be nation. A nation that wants to believe it is composed of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

As in the story: “The Emperor's new clothes”, those who stand up and say: “The emperor has no clothes on” are branded as traitors and liberals. 

Liberals are being blamed for everything that is wrong in America by those who would like to see a more fascist way of thinking.  There are people in America who choose not to think for themselves and have to be told what to think.  There are people in America who do not want to have an education, nor want to study because it is too hard, or they may know that the truth is there and they do not want to see it.

Take slavery for example – one person wrote into Pravda.ru boasting America was the first country to abolish slavery.  Technically, America was one of the last civilized countries to abolish something that was morally wrong to begin with.  So what of the words: “That all men are created equal” – sadly, not so in this country.  All men were not treated as equals well into the 1960’s until the end of the Jim Crow laws.  Obviously, we took a very long conservative road – about 190 years worth of conservative road.

We openly invited all into this country – now, the conservative elements want to erect a wall between the US and Mexico to stop the flood of people who still think America is the place to be.

Our own Second Amendment has racial overtones behind it if one studies history the more conservative history.  The National Rifle Association is pretty liberal in its thinking as they want everyone carrying a gun, even in such a civilized country as the US, they want everyone fully armed.  That is a rather liberal concept and the more conservative crowd is leery. If the US is so wonderful and magic, why do we have a provision to stay armed against a tyranny that will never happen because we are so great, and the right hand of God no matter what we do?

Being liberal is not a bad thing as Americans would like you to believe. We owe our very existence to liberal thinking.  What if our forefathers had remained conservative and thusly loyal to the crown of England?  We’d still be part of the British Empire as a matter of fact, and subjects of the present day monarchy.

It was the liberals that wanted to break away, not the conservatives.

Innocent until proven guilty was a pretty liberal idea at the time because the conservative point of view was just the opposite.  You have to prove your innocence's in a court of law.  Perhaps it was the Witch Trials here on our shores that brought about a liberal change to the way we think because the cry at the time was: “Prove you are not a witch”.  We still see people who are treated as guilty and leave the onus on them to prove otherwise – but there is no set pattern either and we still see liberals and moderates being branded as guilty by a crowd that owes their lifestyle to forward thinkers.

Conservatives like things they way they are, or maybe even taking a little away.  The Patriot Act is pretty conservative and it threatens what we call liberties.  Michael Moore would like to see more gun control – clearly not a liberal stance. 

Hitler and Stalin are branded as liberals.  Neither of them tolerated any dissention at all.  It was a simple matter of think as I tell you to think, or I will shoot you.  Perhaps they really were far right conservatives in actuality?  And for the masses, education outside of party line was strictly verboten. 

America is on the path of working towards that same end, anything outside of party line will only brand you for right now.  But as America moves further and further to the right end of sanity, I think there will be significant repercussions to those who veer to the left at all.  The Patriot Act makes it legal to detain a person without trial simply for political reasons. 

Read these two declarations and tell me who wrote them:

"for the Protection of the people and the State."

The Emergency Decree stated: "Restrictions on personal liberty, on the right of free expression of opinion, including freedom of the press; on the rights of assembly and association; and violations of the privacy of postal, telegraphic and telephonic communications and warrants for house searches, orders for confiscations as well as restrictions on property, are also permissible beyond the legal limits otherwise prescribed."

And

The Anti-Terrorism Act of 2001 would eliminate the legal requirement for government agents to get permission from a judge before being allowed to search homes and download computer files. Under the proposed law, the information gathered could be used in court, a legal change which presently violates constitutional protections against search and seizure. The proposed bill would also eliminate the requirement for a judge to sign a warrant in order for government agents to get billing records from hotels, phone companies, and other businesses, replacing judicial review with an administrative subpoena. Essentially, agencies would be able to sign their own search warrants and conduct searches in routine secrecy, without having to notify the subject of the search.

The first one was written by Hitler, the second one by the ultra conservative Bush administration. 

The same goes with these two statements:

"I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator," said Adolf Hitler.

"God told me to strike at Al Qa'ida and I struck them. And then he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did. With the might of God on our side we will triumph," said George Bush.

Before an American demonizes liberals and moderates, first think what you have versus what you are going to lose.

Michael Berglin