(Two very differently toned Memorial Day user diaries from readers who have served. This is the one that came in first. I’m promoting both to promote discussion, or at least thoughtfulness. It’s worth remembering that, although politicians like to speak of veterans as a monolithic group (that support their particular agenda, of course), they are anything but. I encourage readers to check out both diaries before commenting. – promoted by odum)
There are many freedoms that all Americans enjoy solely because of the geographic location of our birth. We are privileged to have had men and women come before us who tirelessly worked to build a better tomorrow, sacrificed their wealth to preserve the way of life they had enjoyed so their children could do the same, or those who have mourned their sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, brothers or sisters who gave their lives in battle, preserving the very freedoms we sometimes take for granted today. In light of this Memorial Day holiday, I challenge you to remember those who came before us and to be cognizant of various freedoms we enjoy because of them.
Obviously, there are a great number of freedoms that we have and certainly more than could be placed in this short essay. So, in light of that, I will attempt to classify and define our most common freedoms. There seem to be three basic types of freedoms; endowed freedoms, granted freedoms, and personal freedoms.
Endowed freedoms are those bestowed upon us, as indicated by our Founding Fathers in their Declaration of Independence. These are described as inalienable – or those that cannot be taken from us – because these freedoms were not given to us by someone or something. These are freedoms (or rights) that each person is born with; “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” These rights serve as the basis of all of our freedoms, rights, laws, culture, and society.
Secondly, granted freedoms are those freedoms given to us by our Government. These freedoms are outlined in broad terms within the United States Constitution and further defined within the individual “many States” Constitutions and municipalities, each varying depending on the State or municipality in which you choose to live. The first ten amendments to the Constitution define the freedoms that we, the individual, enjoy as granted by our federal government. We have the freedom of religion, to have our voice and opinion heard publicly, to peaceably assemble, to own firearms, to personal privacy, freedom from unlawful searches, to due process, to a trial by jury, and freedom from cruel or unusual punishment. All other freedoms that are not specifically mentioned within the first eight amendments or within the Constitution are retained by us or by us and the States.
Finally, personal freedoms are those that we allow ourselves (and our children or families) to enjoy. They include the ability to choose what possessions we acquire, what we eat, what we choose as entertainment, or what level of success we strive to attain. We have the freedom to choose our faith – or choose to have no faith at all; that we choose to love – or choose to love no one; or that we choose to care for each other – or to care only for ourselves. These freedoms are the most intimate, the most personal, and the most cherished. These are those freedoms that many a person has died preserving.
In my relatively short adult life, I have had the privilege of serving in our United States Navy, during which I traveled to more the fifteen separate countries. Each country contained a certain beauty, a distinct culture and a unique history. But nowhere on this planet is freedom better demonstrated as the standard of life than the United States. Each of our freedoms and rights are only possible because of our past soldiers, sailors, and airmen have jealously and selflessly fought and died to preserve them. They have left those freedoms for us to guard and preserve, now that they had passed on. For this, they deserve remembrance.
I pray you and your families have a blessed Memorial Day.
They demonstrate pretty profoundly how divided this country is, even among the military which has traditionally been assumed to be a pretty homogeneous sector.
I did a little Google search of the text when this one showed-up in the sidebar. All I found was that it had also been posted on redstate.com.
Many government rulers, and many of the ruled, behave as if the following quoted “freedoms” are “given to us by our Government.” Nothing could be further from the truth —
This.Is.Not.true.
The first Ten Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, is, and it is also called, a “Bill of Rights.” We give our government the responsibility to protect our freedom to exercise these rights, but no person needs a government to create or grant the very rights with which s/he was born. We are born with rights; and we have rights regardless of what the government does, no matter what the mob demands and no matter what popular tells us.
The Bill of Rights, as written into our Constitution, is a list of rights that are not open for negotiation or given to compromise. NONE of the rights in the first Ten Amendments are “granted” by the government. The sparse — but powerful — list of constitutionally protected civil and human rights, in the Bill of Rights, represent critical and foundational rights essential to maintaining a free and civil society. The rights listed in the first Ten Amendments is not, by any stretch of the imagination, an exhaustive list. Instead, it is a powerfully representative list of specific rights upon which civil society demands our democratic government not encroach.
The Bill of Rights are an exclamation point on the the liberal belief that the Government may not interfere with certain inherent rights. It is a reminder that these rights exist by virtue of being born. These rights are not, and have never been, “granted” to us by the government.
“We The People” are the source of our government’s authority. We, as citizens, create our governmental structure and we citizens, voters, immigrants, farmers, soldiers, bakers, teachers, attorneys, bloggers and taxpayers give our governmental entities the authority to maintain the legal norms of civil society.
We do not look to government to give us rights. We create our government to protect them.
I was waiting for someone to catch the BS throughout this entire post (not just the Bill of Rights stuff).
As a Vietnam guy, my opinion of this ‘freedom’ BS sort of reminds me of something–Oh yeah, a ‘twist’ on a quote from some asshole Major in February of ’68: “We had to destroy our freedoms in order to save them.”
I don’t think we are ‘honoring’ our dead in battle by platitudes that would make a WWII vet upchuck. Praising our “standard of life” has replaced upholding our standard of the value of life. Killing and death (AND disaster) have become moneymakers for THE FEW who will continue to create War For Plunder, and make our friends and neighbors and our children go out and die for it. Not a very honorable concept to kill or die for.
A real patriot is someone who says: “Wait a fuckin’ minute. You’re asking me to go out and kill and die for some Company?! Why you lowlife dirty traitor!”
Next time you trot out the Constitution, Taddy, remember that American men and women are dying so that Corporate Persons back here can figure out new ways to violate, usurp and supplant it with their own “We, The Corporations” Bill Of Rights. We are approaching a Corporate Monarchy Of The Rich here. Not something those Founding Fathers everybody raves about would tolerate.
And also, I just HATE IT that some people keep putting the STUPID into our history!
I don’t think our National Guards are over there fighting for our ‘freedoms’ to destroy unions and ‘segregate’ American workers from the ‘right’ of collective bargaining:
“Hi Dad,
Haven’t gotten a Care Package from you and Mom lately. Everything OK?”
“Well, Son/Daughter, it’s been rough here the last few months since they broke the Union and cut our benefits and overtime.”
NICE………….
Lets look at our war on terror or really the war on Terra. Biggest polluter in the world is the US military. Our constitution has been savaged in the name of security. We have ever less security and have destroyed our infrastructure and now schools all in the name of permanent war and giving the vast majority of our taxes to the Military Industrial Complex and their Wall Street bankers.
Because our military runs on oil and the profit motive of oil companies is really what our soldiers fight for, the US has an idiot policy toward climate change —denial. So in the name of this great engine of security and freedom, the US is destroying the planet and has taken away almost all of our previously Constitutionally guarded rights. The military is the great enemy of democracy not its protector. I feel bad for guys who need to believe this trash to feel okay about themselves but it is not true and it is destroying both life and liberty.
*[new] freedom from the military (0.00 / 0)
Lets look at our war on terror or really the war on Terra. Biggest polluter in the world is the US military. Our constitution has been savaged in the name of security. We have ever less security and have destroyed our infrastructure and now schools all in the name of permanent war and giving the vast majority of our taxes to the Military Industrial Complex and their Wall Street bankers.
Because our military runs on oil and the profit motive of oil companies is really what our soldiers fight for, the US has an idiot policy toward climate change —denial. So in the name of this great engine of security and freedom, the US is destroying the planet and has taken away almost all of our previously Constitutionally guarded rights. The military is the great enemy of democracy not its protector. I feel bad for guys who need to believe this trash to feel okay about themselves but it is not true and it is destroying both life and liberty.
peggy luhrs
..we should all agree that:
#1 Obama hasn’t done much to reign in the Military/Industrial/CAPITALIST cartel.
#2 We need our National Guards back home. (This is a federal takeover of states’ resources)
#3 We should work on teaching the young that a military career
has now become a job working for the Rich Capitalist Monster. (The one destroying the planet)
#4 As American civilians (living a comfortable lifestyle), we are as guilty as any of our troops for the atrocities committed in the name of Democracy. We haven’t put enough focus on the wars, and we certainly haven’t been in the streets by the hundreds of thousands to make politicians, the media, and other Americans pay attention.
 Fighting among ourselves about it is just…well, HEARTWARMING to the Right, the Rich, and the Corporate Reprehensible.
We’re in a WAR here at home. And the Nazis are winning. We need to fight THEM, not ourselves.