Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness (Part 2)

Liberty.

We love talking in this country about liberty.

Let us read what the dictionary says about the meaning of the word liberty:

1. freedom from arbitrary or despotic government or control.

2.  freedom from external or foreign rule; independence.

3. freedom from control, interference, obligation, restriction, hampering conditions, etc.; power or right of doing, thinking, speaking, etc., according to choice.

4. freedom from captivity, confinement, or physical restraint: The prisoner soon regained his liberty.

5. permission granted to a sailor, especially in the navy, to go ashore

Having lived here for a while and also having lived half of my life in my country of birth I can see some differences and some similarities.

People seem to focus US on the Bill of Rights and primarily a few of them such as the 1^st one (Freedom of Religion, Press, Expression) that says: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances”, and the the 2^nd (Right to Bear Arms): A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

They probably know a few more but these are their primary focus.

We know that the forefathers had in mind during the declaration of independence that only white, land owners, males were included in these “liberties”. They did not include slaves, of course, and they did not include women, as they had no right to vote. Nowadays people love to fill themselves with the idea of liberties, and that we need to defend them at any cost, even if that means with huge Department of Defense budgets, with no regard that that may push part of their population into poverty, having a military cost equivalent at the rest of the world combined, being brainwashed with fear at the expense of erosion of their liberties such as the patriot act, and other measures taken by federal and state governments, conducting ethnic erosion of privacy for the “safety” of the population, or being frisked for no reason, or invading other countries because they disagree with us, all in the name of safety.  People who demonstrate in most instances are arrested because they “disturb” the peace and quiet of the rest of the citizens. The press cannot take pictures of their fellow citizens who are brought back in caskets from Afghanistan, not that the press seems to care nowadays in informing the public about the news, as I had pointed out in another blog, they are more interested in pushing their own interests and their own agenda.
I am a believer, like some countries around the world, in euthenesia. I don't believe that the government should consider it illegal. It does not mean that I believe in commiting suicide, it just means that I believe that we should have that right, if we decide to end our own life.
We also love to talk about freedom of choices. What choices? Swiss or American (cheese)? Pepperoni o sausage (pizza)? Big Mac or Chicken stripps (Mcdonald's)? Macdonalds or Wendy's?
Even when we vote many times the distinction between both candidates and both parties is somewhat fuzzy, depending who the candidate is, what state you live in, etc, as both major parties receive in many cases money from the same lobbysts just to make sure that they can mold the laws to their own convenience.

So where are the liberties?

to be continued