I hear all this talk about “freedom” from the likes of Ron Paul. I agree with him on the subject of war but that’s pretty much where it stops. To him, freedom means you don’t have to seat a black man or a Hispanic or a Muslim or anyone you don’t particularly care for at your lunch counter. He and the other Republican candidates talk about personal responsibility and posit that we all have the responsibility to provide for ourselves. They ignore the very real fact that some people—sadly an ever-growing number of people—simply don’t have the wherewithal to purchase health insurance. They denigrate those who need food stamps and call them lazy freeloaders, never once taking the time to investigate why there is a need for assistance. I recall George Bush and his comment to the divorced mother in Nebraska who worked three jobs: “Uniquely American, isn’t it? I mean, that’s fantastic that you’re doing that….Get any sleep?”
GEORGE BUSH IN NEBRASKA I don’t know about you but to me, that isn’t freedom. That’s slavery.
My favorite is when people talk about how they want smaller government. I agree that there are certain things government should stay out of: telling a woman what she can and cannot do with her body, defining marriage and telling us who we can and cannot love. These are personal issues and government has no right to dictate to any of us how we conduct our personal lives as long as we stay within the law and do our part. But government does have the right, indeed the duty, to require certain things of all of us so the society in which we live provides a safe and nurturing environment where we can achieve our potential, whatever that may be, and live the American Dream.
There’s the argument that regulations stifle the economy. That’s bull! Regulations may curb profits somewhat but certainly will not erase them. I own stocks. I like getting those dividends. But I also like clean air and water, safe foods and medicines, airline safety and consumer protections and think it’s worth taking a little off the bottom line of corporations that have grown fat on the profits reaped from having the great opportunities this country has afforded them.
The biggest mistake the Right makes is looking at the government as something separate from the rest of us. And maybe today it is because those on the Right have managed to set things up much as they were in the Europe from which our ancestors fled. We are now living in conditions that mirror the Feudal system where there were the Nobles and the Serfs. I never signed up to be a serf. I was raised on “We the People” and “a government of the people, by the people, for the people” and I was taught to revere the sentiments expressed on the Statue of Liberty: “Give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”
One of the big hits on television these days is Extreme Home Makeover. It’s a feel good show where a family that has fallen on hard times is saved by their community. They get a new house, sometimes college scholarships for their kids, mortgages are paid off and everything in their once miserable and desperate lives is made better in one short week. It’s great but it’s just a TV show and no matter how many people they help, there are millions more who will never get that help. Meanwhile, Sears and Disneyland and whatever other businesses that pitch in and provide materials needed to get the project done get great PR. The fact is we have the ability to give people the help they need to better their lives, not on such a large scale but on a scale large enough to lift not just one family but our entire society. And we do that by paying taxes that provide social programs to give a helping hand to those who need it.
Here’s what freedom means to me: knowing that if I’m sick I can go to the doctor of my choice, be treated and not be impoverished by paying huge premiums for health insurance with a huge deductible to meet, knowing that after working hard all my life, I will have a dignified retirement where I don’t have to fight my cats for dinner, or be put out on the street to fend for myself. I know I have to do my part. I have always known it and I have done it. But there have been times when I needed government assistance. At one point in my life I needed food stamps so I could feed myself and my daughter. At one point in my life I needed federal assistance for daycare. It made the difference of my being able to continue to work instead of going on welfare. It gave me the freedom to continue paying my fair share of taxes and contributing to society. I have had to collect unemployment insurance and so have a lot of people I know. It gave us the freedom to be able to pay our bills and go out and look for another job. Freedom is knowing that someone has your back and in a society as large as the one in which we live, the only way to do it is by collecting taxes and – oh God, here it comes – redistributing a bit of the wealth to insure the health of society as a whole.
We are at a crossroads in the United States. It can go either way. One way or another we are about to give birth to a new way of life. I can only hope that sanity rules and the fears of those who made guns the number one Christmas purchase this year are laid to rest and people realize that we are all one and that a nation divided against itself cannot stand. I will do everything I can to insure that a Rick Santorum or a Mitt Romney or whoever the hell the fractured Republican party puts up for president never sees the inside of the Oval Office.
Rome wasn’t built in a day and the mess left by the Bush administration can’t be cleaned up in three years or one presidential term or, as our President has told us, by one president serving two terms. But we can begin. We have begun, despite the rabid obstructionism of the Right and things have steadily been getting better, even though it’s hard to feel it. Because, admittedly, things are still bad. But we have the opportunity this year to erase the mistakes made in the 2010 election. So even if you’re not thrilled with President Obama, think about what he has had to deal with and what he has accomplished (if you don’t know, I’ll provide a few links so you can see for yourself) and then go out and work to elect candidates who put you first. And in November, go to the polls and vote for your own self-interest instead of the interests of corporate owned candidates who would step over your dying body on the way to their limos. Let’s get this country back on track. We can do it. Yes we can!
