Do We Even Deserve To Be Free?

[TheWatcher]

As we sit in what seem to be the final hours of our democracy, our way of life, and the country that was founded a little over 240 years ago, this is a question that has been running through my mind in the past few days.

Do we deserve to be free?

Over the past five years, we have watched our country disintegrate into what we have now.

A desolated land of economics by fantasy, rule by fear, democracy by tyranny, and everything, from our entertainment to the top of the political ladder, seems staged, scripted, and fake.

We have become a nation of apathy, despair, confusion, hate, and poisoned by fear.

Too many of us have succumbed to the propaganda of fear. We live in fear of everyone and everything around us, and we cower and run for cover at the sight of our own shadow. Our leaders, our media, have become our Puppet Masters, and we dance two and fro as they manipulate the strings so that their agenda, whatever it may be, goes forward unchallenged, unabated, and unchecked.
There have been so many arguments on DU over the past few days on whether all of the new Terror Alerts and Security Upheavals are real or hoaxed. In the end, it may not matter. What matters more is a single fundamental question that I would like to ask every single person on this planet.

It is a question that transcends race, religion, sexual orientation, and political affiliation.

It doesn't matter what your beliefs or principles are, it is a question that concerns all of us.

And it is thus:

Look at the world around you. Take a good look. Look what we have become. Look what we are doing. Look at what we are allowing to be done. Take a moment and reflect where this road we are on will lead us.

Now ask yourself this:

Is this REALLY the way you want to live the rest of your lives?

It's a simple question. And it should not be answered with an apathetic response like "But this is the way things are and there is nothing we can do."

No shrugging the shoulders. No resignations.

Everyone just needs to think about it long and hard.

Is THIS how you want to live?

What needs to be understood about those in power, especially for those who support them, is that they do not serve the interests of ANY of the people, save for the tiny minority they are serving the needs of. it is very exclusive club, and it excludes about 90% of the human race, and I am probably being conservative about that. It's probably a number above 95%.

They have successfully divided all of us into warring factions that are too busy trying to survive with the crumbs that they give us to survive with. We're too busy fighting each other over ideologies and principles that have absolutely nothing to do with the agenda of the people controlling the strings. Absolutely nothing at all.

What needs to be understood by all is that this is not about Democrat Or Republican, Conservative Or liberal, Right Or Left, Muslim Or Christian, or anything in between.

This is about Right and Wrong.

And for those controlling the strings, it is even more primal.

It is really about the Weak and The Strong.

The Predator and the Prey.

I have been through just about every cycle you can think of emotionally and spiritually over the past five years concerning things. Anger, Rage, Depression, Loathing, Mourning, Resignation, Acceptance, all of them. There are times I feel like I am repeating them.

I suppose lately I am reaching the point of acceptance that I may be nothing more than a witness to history. it may be too late to stop the machinations that are bulling forward. We are up against a juggernaut that owns all machinations of power, or so it seems, and for those of us who can see the truth, there is nothing they will not do to achieve their goals.

If they need to kill people, they will do it.

If they need to steal elections, they will do it.

If they need to destroy entire civilizations, and invade sovereign nations, they will do it

They will lie, they will steal, they will rape, they will pillage, they will burn, they will torture, and they will subvert.

There is no mystery to them. They are going to keep moving forward until they are stopped. One way or the other.

Which leaves the question of the only variable they still cannot predict, no matter how much control they feel they wield over it, through whatever draconian means they implement.

Us.

Whether we choose to believe it or even understand it, our fate, and the fate of this country are going to depend on what We The People do.

There is a lot of frustration and resignation among many of us, and even a little desperation. Many of us feel like giving up, and many of us feel like there is nothing we can do to stop what we see as the inevitable.

A Fascist, Totalitarian Theocracy that not only grips this country, but that will become the Global Monster that rules over all.

There is much we have witnessed in the past five years. There is much that has been done that has not even been answered to.

Three Stolen election cycles. An illegal war. The disintegration of the rule of law. A crumbling Economy. The destruction of a major metropolitan city, and the wholesale neglect and displacement of all of it's citizens. And a list that goes on and on, that is not too far from all the warnings that Orwell echoed so many years ago, and a path that at times reflects and calls on the ghosts of another terrible path, from another terrible time some 70 years ago.

We have witnessed all of these things, and we have all been confounded, confused, disappointed, and baffled at the response of our leadership. They have done nothing. The Bush Crime family continues to do whatever they wish at will, unabated, unchecked, and with no accountability.

In the end, it may come down to us, and what We The People decide to do.

To look at what we are facing makes many of us feel hopeless and helpless, because it seems overwhelming, inevitable, and unstoppable.

But perhaps what we all need to do is look within ourselves. Look close to home. Look locally. Start small. No matter how small. No matter how insignificant it seems.

I know it seems insurmountable. I know it seems like the Hordes Of Mordor Will finally rush over the land this time.

But every day, when you wake up and go about your day, do something. ANYTHING. It doesn't even have to be political. Do something positive that you think will make a difference. ANY DIFFERENCE.

Because we have to start somewhere. Do anything that you can. Even if it seems like it won't make a difference. Do something anyway. Keep yourself focused. Make goals. Try to achieve them.

I guess my point is that we should not give up, even if it seems hopeless. At the very least, we should go down swinging. Even if we ultimately lose, if all of us can look around and know we did EVERYTHING we could to save things, the loss will be bitter, but at least we will live with the dignity of knowing we tried.

Which brings me back to my question.

Do we even deserve to be free?

The question is easier to answer then you think. If we resign ourselves to the fate that these people have in mind for us, and we do not fight to stop it, then no, we do not deserve the freedom that we have.

We should all try give to the fight in some form or another. No matter how big or how small.

There are many who do not even plan to vote this November. Because they feel it insignificant. That it doesn't matter. After all, Diebold will just decide the outcome any way.

So What? Vote anyway. Show your defiance by acting even in the face of certain defeat. Do not be deterred by the fraud, even if you know it to be inevitable.

And don't buy into the fear they are trying to sell you. What has been more frightening to me than anything of late is how even the most intelligent among us are succumbing to the fear mongering that is in full swing. We are becoming a nation of pant-shitting cowards who hide under the bed and beg for mercy at the first sign of BOO! Stop letting them control you with fear. You are doing nothing more than fighting and winning their battles for them.

As for the big picture, I am not going to lie to you or tell you what you want to hear. It is very bleak. Like I said, we are in the final hours of our country. It should be expected that at some point these monsters are going to make their move. They have to. They have gone too far to stop. They have to hold on to power at any cost. they could not stop now even if they wanted to.

The question that remains is what we are going to do about it.

We might as well face facts on one thing. If we are going to get our country back, we are going to have to confront those in power sooner or later. We need to try to do it legally and peacefully, but in the end we are going to have to do what is necessary, if it is necessary. I am not going to elaborate on that. I will merely point you to this phrase, written over 240 years ago. Let is be your guide:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

We are all tired. We are all fearful of where things are going. But we cannot give up. We must not.
I know you are all weary. I am too.

But like it or not, fight or flight, we are all in this together until the end, whatever end that may be.

And even if we come up on the losing side, and Darkness takes hold of the land, we should still stay as active as we can. We should not resign ourselves to such a fate. We should still communicate and share ideas, and discuss what should be done, and pass it on to as many as possible.

Because future generations are going to need a blueprint for what they need to do when the fight becomes theirs.

Like I said, we have to start somewhere.

I'm posting this late at night on a Friday. It will probably disappear into the ether before dawn.

But if you read this, and it has an affect on you, if it matters, share it with someone else. Share it with everyone you know.

Keep talking to each other. Keep active. Keep going.

Fear is all they have left.

And as a great man once said:

We have nothing to Fear, but Fear itself.

Let us show them that we will not go quietly into that good night.

Vote. Write. Publish. Call. Share. Teach. Work.

RESIST.

Let's get to work.

There is much to be done.

We've got nothing to fear...but fear itself?
Not pain, not failure, not fatal tragedy?
Not the faulty units in this mad machinery?
Not the broken contacts in emotional chemistry?

With an iron fist in a velvet glove
We are sheltered under the gun
In the glory game on the power train
Thy kingdom's will be done

And the things that we fear are a weapon to be held against us...

He's not afraid of your judgment
He knows of horrors worse than your Hell
He's a little bit afraid of dying
But he's a lot more afraid of your lying

And the things that he fears are a weapon to be held against him...

Can any part of life be larger than life?
Even love must be limited by time
And those who push us down that they might climb
Is any killer worth more than his crime?

Like a steely blade in a silken sheath
We don't see what they're made of
They shout about love, but when push comes to shove
They live for the things they're afraid of

And the knowledge that they fear is a weapon to be used against them...

Rush- The Weapon

[LeahD]

1. K & R!

[alittlelark]

2. Our Forefathers would demand that we fight

for the ideals they spent sooo long crafting. They saw us (future generations) as better people than they were... we need to prove them RIGHT.


Get a copy of "The Monkey Wrench Gang" by Abbey.


They fought against tyranny - we need to do the same.

[undergroundpanther]

6. Yes we do..

But likewise we are up against not only the tyrants but our own urge to obedience..to selfish survival,and social programming handed down from parents and culture. We must overcome the resistance within to crush the oppression outside. If we do not understand ourselves or accept it's limits how can we overcome it?

http://www.prisonexp.org/
http://www.bullyonline.org/workbully/bystand.htm

Cult leaders succeed in dominating their followers because they have mastered the cruel art of exploiting universal human dependency and attachment needs in others. The lengthy period of dependency in human development, the power that parents have, as God-like figures, to literally give life and sustain the lives of their children, leaves each human being with the memory, however distant or unconscious, of total dependency. Cult leaders tap into and re-activate this piece of the human psyche. Followers are encouraged to become regressed and infantilized, to believe that their life depends on pleasing the cult leader. Cult leaders depend on their ability to attract people, often at critically vulnerable points in their lives, who are confused, hungry, dissatisfied, searching.

(And who among us has not at one time felt dissatisfied,confused and sought an answer to the longing,the question,the pain?)

http://www.danielshawlcsw.com/traumatic_abuse.htm
different perspectives..
http://www.australianreview.net/digest/2006/05/mcilwain.html
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc/publications/infores/responding/files/SessionB.txt

[OwnedByFerrets]

3. Wow, that is a mouthful. nt

[Webster Green]

4. Indeed!

Great post!

[undergroundpanther]

5. Life is uncertain(deep pondering here)

Uncertainty causes profound anxiety,anxiety causes reactions some of these reactions create trauma and trauma creates more traumas.and more fear more anxiety more uncertainty..The game of make believe is falling away,and there is no monster at the end of this book but life itself bearing down on us.. I think maybe deep down in the collective sub conscious the Death urge is speaking louder,than the love of this planet is,this planet where life must destroy life to live(not just humans doing it we got bacteria to predators like bears and lions )And die anyway. Life on one level can be seen as if it was a "great adventure" but it is also a futile painful tragedy.It is both.

If a significant percentage of people cannot take much more oppression abuse and bullying from the powerful,or life's pressures to adapt and they see no way to be heard or see the responses than they will feel pain...in response. God is notoriously distant no matter how believers say he lives so close to them.

People jumped out of the world trade center because for them,obviously there was no way to get past the evacuating crowds ,moving too slow as the building was obviously disintegrating all around them,so they knew they were doomed so they jumped out and smashed themselves on the sidewalk..rather than be tortured by flames or debris .our Planet is changing,maybe it is dying.Maybe it's our fault,maybe it isn't.Maybe it's BOTH. Regardless of causes and blame ..Alot of people feel deep pain the kind words cannot express,and there is no remedy for it,even xanax and booze cannot take away a deep profound uncertainty and feeling of alienation,and the anxiety it creates in a world where we are forced to compete to nourish ourselves instead of nourishing each other to actualization.

I could be Zen about it all too and call it all my own fault that damn desire got me,that evil attraction,that I get duped by an illusion,stupid little me, I can pretend it is noble to suffer even though I tell myself it isn't real,and I can get a little ego rush with my own game even as reality tears my soul apart with very convincing agony watching the world die ,I stand on impermanent legs holding a dead bird ..Just a mass of molecules holding a mass of molecules,that was a crushed thing of beauty I found by the road, crying my eyes out over a fucking hologram. What a pitiable fool I am. Or I could cry out at the creator of this mess and call this good devil master and play that game and deny life hurts too.But that illusion falls apart as so many others do when you undo their respective Gordian knots.

And eventually there are no more saviors to hope for, no solutions to pray for and the way it really IS stares back at you..and you realize you are not in total control.Capricious fortune maddeningly illusive,She never calls your ship in..You wait..until you feel like a fool and walk away from the shore glancing backward ashamed just in case..fortuna actually gave a damn about your pain.

We all were born, When we were infants,I suspect we all wanted to be allowed to be and become,we all wanted to be cherished,loved,held,accepted just as we were whenever we were and nothing more,to be encouraged to be guided but not controlled,to be around people we could trust who trusted us,and knew it is OK to write our own programs and futures to live through our own ways, and that it was good to see whatever we saw explore and not be invalidated and justify ourselves to others and be abused for knowing or not..We all wanted at one time perhaps to be safe,provided for,to be supported ,to give and be gifted in return,as we traveled the fringes of finding out whatever reality is,and not be left outcast to die alone for seeing what we saw and being what we were..

But we are raised to forget these needs,every child is broken like a wild colt to serve,to work,to accept the bit of some master, another human no better than himself.. As adults we are ashamed of the forgotten needs,we even denigrate them as weak,we go through life shadows ,wanting, somewhere else, missing,fragmented never knowing,never fulfilled,content or alive.. ..So society in it's profound illusion crafted by the successful,the alphas the masters of the gene pool adopt the heart of a sociopath,adopt the desire to control the uncontrollable,to be certain of the uncertain,to dominate the untameable,to know it all,even if it's a self told lie it eases anxiety,for a while to pretend.. in every living consciousness there is the unsaid,the body knowing,the mind supresses..The unseen unspoken forgotten..we all carry in our most innocent sweetest fantasies so abused by the world,by cultures,so filtered and walled off and distorted a wish a secret tender wish we dare not speak for fear of rejection and ridicule...

Our self never hears our own cries for love for acceptance,anymore than anyone else outside does.There is no much need and so much abused abundance.It has become scarcity.See the god called each other? It has abandoned ourselves in search of lies we call truths and all it is we are too scared to turn around and see what has become of us in this nightmare, not of our design,with wills that are not truly as free as we want to believe,we sit in the dark cave when the sun rises in the east... So to stay blind to please the master,the critical parent abuser,until it became our self identification our belonging. so in unspoken despair we made nuclear bombs,work,money, chemical factories,economies, religion and cars,and words to distract us,,but it has become a way to commit slow suicide,and drag the plant with us.. This is the end product a heart born in trauma,birth is violent a baby can die the mother too,Who knows how that impacts our deep psyche and what it filters..Born in a traumatic separation from itself..Day one we are programmed to lie to deny,to silence,to not cry..out against..the abuse of consciousness when trapped in bodies .This leads to..thanatos..of entire planets.We all will die without each other's love,nurturing,and support .Some things despite popular myths and courses in miracle and Neuro linguistic word games cannot be self generated,it is a gift or curse passed from generation to generation,and somewhere along the line the gift got contaminated.....and it is not of our making this life yet we live it in varying degrees of pain and blame ourselves or praise or each other for what fortune we cannot get or understand.

and so we poison our own food water and air..make ourselves sick,overdosed on make believe,for one cannot stand seeing too much reality it drives one sane with despair to see it.

This is why Bush was selected ,why nobody steps up to save anything to play the saviors ,we don't want to be.
and this is all subconscious on a collective level,maybe it is the planet saying it is time to change I dunno. But sometimes it ain't about free will or whatever,sometimes something is operating without us yet it effects us.
A site to ponder...

http://blogs.salon.com/0002007/2005/12/30.html

[Twist_U_Up]

7. RUSH Knows.

Rush has been writing these lyrics since they formed, geared just for these times and into our future.

Neil,Alex and Geddy Know.

[Imagevision]

25. With Bush in charge, define 'Free'

[seriousstan]

8. Please take your meds

[Philosoraptor]

10. insults are easy aren't they?

[seriousstan]

13. Yes, when they are obvious and needed.

[undergroundpanther]

21. Stan grow up

Verbal abuse to shut down Ideas YOU don't like disagree with or don't understand is sooo REPUBLICAN. Stan I sam trying to THINK to ask WHY why are people doing things that are so illogical? Why is cultural denial running so deep? Thank you Stan,seriously,you illustrated my point of what may be contributing to the problem,so perfectly with your smug snide verbal control tactics and self serving declaration of who's sane or not.

How can you know sanity little stan? Shrinks can't even define sanity. Guys with Phd.s and I asked them myself..they have NO ANSWER that's not bound to success in THIS culture or bound to norms that Francis Galton pulled out of his arse years ago,or bell curves.

Eugenics happens here.so does ELITISM,Republican conservatism built it's foundation on class ism and have/have not strife and exploiting it..,so I seriously doubt YOU understand what sanity is any better than anyone else dude.

If this pill popping to numb everything they don't like,over obedient,nose to the grindstone,impress the Joneses,shallow,MSNBC,culture was so damn sane and functioning so well ..Tell me why is humanity in this mess. Why are murder/suicide/violent assault rates so damn HIGH in America? Why do we have the largest number of prison inmates and even beat CHINA in number of people in jail? If America was so happy? Maybe part of it is because of this totally over the top obedience to artificial social hierarchies and to exclusion of others.

That "Achilles heel" of obedient/scapegoat creating human "nature" is from all appearances is a part of what is letting a few very wealthy corporate Ceos a few politicians direct society into letting them and sometimes helping them destroy this planet?..Why you got an answer sOoper genius? Take my meds,Heh Meds can't fix what I got hunny,it's called being AWAKE.And thinking why,even tho it hurts.I'll go where few go because I can.It's called FREE THOUGHT. medication won't fix Free thinking,but bullying sometimes shuts it down.Verbal abuse don't work on me .

That's how life is when you are not part of the cozy mainstream of 'normals' which incidentally ARE part of what ails us, those Norms..
But I don't expect someone who counters deep pondering that upsets him with verbal abuse to GET that...

[TheWatcher]

26. Ah, the mindless, personal insult?

As a retort, instead of taking your bait, I offer you a challenge.

Exactly what, specifically, in what I wrote justifies your response? And what ideas and solutions do you have to offer as a counter?

If you expect me to lower myself to trading insults with you, I am afraid you will receive nothing but disappointment.

Instead I offer you pity.

It's far more than you deserve.

Here's some thoughts for you Stan. Let's see if you can grasp them.

Those who cannot, Do, Teach.

And those that Do, cannot do without those who Teach. For without those who Teach, there cannot be those who learn, in order to do.


Those who attack and insult, while at the same time having nothing of value to offer in kind, can neither teach, nor do, and thus have little to no value to themselves or others.

Thus they are irrelevant.

Guess which category you fall under Stan?

I find it interesting you seek to silence, suppress, and browbeat those who would speak out, while at the same time offering no ideas or solutions in return.

You make an ass out of yourself, but at least in one callous sentence, you've exposed yourself for what you are.

Part of the problem.

Run along now. The adults are chatting.

Or feel free to continue your display. It won't be dignified with a response, at least not by me.

I kind of regret even wasting time for this one.

[seriousstan]

29. I guess the "med" comment hit too close to home for you.

Perhaps you should see about upping your dosage.

[undergroundpanther]

31. You ain't my therapist

You are no"authority" on my 'mental condition'. Are you just bigoted against people who are not like YOU and DARE to THINK? That makes YOU a bully, Stan.You have no knowledge of my particular life history or anything else about me other than shit online you read..so it is obvious YOU ASSUME..in as self serving way like any bully does. You are USELESS worthless and a hindrance to anyone who desires to converse on things over your tiny little head when your overgrown ego is threatened by your betters.You are nothing but another arrogant armchair shrink mouthing off bullshit with NOTHING good in your tiny shallow mind to contribute to this discussion but you got those pointless pithy oLielly inspired, Rush limpballs style insults to spew. Anyone can spew the shit you do Stan it is not a special gift to be an asshole.To me,you have no intellectual legitimacy and you are being an asshole to me and that makes you a.verbal abuser..So fuck off Stan.
I don't care what your opinions of me are,you have proven yourself to be my moral inferior and so I will remind you of inferiority to me whenever your mouth gets ugly..Maybe you need to get some hard knocks in your little life.Enough pain to shatter that ego problem and force you to grow up..stanny boy...Pat..pat..pat..now run along child,there is a big shiny mac truck barreling on the highway at 60 mph, So why don't you be a good boy and go stand on the double yellow line there and kiss the truck's headlights when it gets to you?

[seriousstan]

34. I have never in this thread addressed ANY of my posts toward you.

Yet you repeatedly state that I am talking to you and making comments on you and your mental health. That IS delusional. Perhaps you should talk to your therapist and mention that you are having troubles distinguishing between comments directed toward you and those directed toward others.

Unless, of course, you also post under the other names that I was addressing. In that case you are just a schizo.

[Philosoraptor]

9. ditto

I'm so disappointed in our nation, we gave up so quickly and cravenly.

[sg_]

11. Your post reminds me of some quotes for some reason...

"Of course the people don't want war. But after all, it's the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it's always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it's a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger." - Herman Goering


"Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. " - Benjamin Franklin (I think he said that one ??)



Cheers.

[undergroundpanther]

18. exactly

And it's like our bodily biological urges to feel safe we must disregard and for some it's easier said than done. We all want to protect our loved ones our kids, and all. But to take a risk requires one to weigh consequences and the bush admin is all about lies and covering up consequences. So it's kinda scary when you look at the internal barriers to changing systems,even bad ones..why do people tolerate tyranny so far?.

[EstimatedProphet]

19. Another quote to remember

"The tree of Liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants" - Thomas Jefferson

If you're not willing to fight for your freedom, do you deserve it?

[Tigermoose]

12. Maybe it has always been this way?

"We're too busy fighting each other over ideologies and principles that have absolutely nothing to do with the agenda of the people controlling the strings. Absolutely nothing at all."

Sometimes, when I look closely at history, and then at the present, and what is likely to be in the future....I see the same thing. I see it. Giambattista Vico saw it. Marx saw it. Many have. The "aristocrats", "capitalists," etc see us as the masses....the peasantry, "labor,"...different ages, same concept. We are impersonal tools to be used for their agenda. I believe this is, sadly, human nature. Power corrupts. Those in power begin to use people as tools..perhaps not consciously, but they do. They become isolated, and then turn people into abstraction, and then they invent systems to control these abstractions to achieve their ends. Ideologies, religion, etc become merely their tools to control the masses. I clearly object to the assessment that this is all that ideology and religion are. I think they are worth in themselves and the ideals that we should strive for. But the "aristocrats" know this and thus use these as tools, as they use everything. It is sickening. Jesus Christ saw the same thing happen 2000+ years ago. He tried to do something about it. He did...for a while. He brought the Kingdom of God back to the people. He took, for a while, God away from the aristocrats of his people, and gave God back to the people. And then Rome took control of God. It is a perpetual struggle.

[BeFree]

14. Hell yes I do!

My answer to those that oppose me? I tell them "The difference between me and you is that you trust them but I don't."

I told a county politico the other day that I knew she had been offered bribes, because that's how the system currently operates. And I let it be known that people know it and think all politicians are crooks.

If one wants to really be free, one must exercise being free.

And as Edward Abbey says: The only cure for an ill democracy is a good strong healthy dose of more democracy.

[MoseyWalker]

15. Great post!

K & R

We have never truly been free, but I think there was a short time there after the Vietnam war when we at least had the illusion that the chains had been taken off.

[Beelzebud]

16. NEWSFLASH: WE ARE NOT FREE. We live with the illusion of choice.

Paper or plastic?

Premium or Regular?

Direct Deposit, or Paycheck?

We have no freedom. We have a nice controlled system that gives us all the illusion of choice.

How many people do you know that don't have to work for a living? How many do you know that would like to not have to work. So why do they do it? Because they are not free.

[Balbus]

17. I'll let you know if I experience anything at all of what you describe.

But for right now, I have no reason to fear anything, I have not danced to and fro to the bidding of anyone, I do not feel apathy, despair, hate, confusion, hopelessness or helplessness. My freedom has not been suppressed. I have not been forbidden to go anywhere I've wanted to go, listen to anything I've wanted to listen to, or barred from seeing or saying anything I've wanted to say or see. Every choice I've made for the last 5 years has been my choice and no one else's.

Do I deserve to be free? I don't know - but I am.

[Protagoras]

20. From Bull Durham:

MILLIE
(studying the dress)
Do you think I deserve to wear white?

ANNIE
We all deserve to wear white.

[Phrogman]

22. If your government can force you into military service, than you are not

free and you do NOT live in a free country.


You are just fodder on standby.


Case closed.

[tomreedtoon]

23. No, we don't. We're all idiots.

After all, the shining lights of the Democratic Party have willingly bent over a dumpster for Bush. And people here still support them. Heck, many of us want one of the Pink Tutu's to be a Presidential Candidate again.



"We're all glad to be the Democratic candidates for our pal Dubya!"

Yes, there are some Democrats who have grown spines, but why are these other guys the only Democrats in the news? As long as we aren't supporting people who are willing to fight for change, and fight hard and (if necessary) dirty, hell NO we don't deserve to be free!

[Imagevision]

24. The Bush administration has changed my views on Freedom & Democracy

The Bush administration has shown me different things americans stand for.

[Phrogman]

27. I hear ya pal, under closer inspection, Bush's style democracy....

don't look so appealing.

[CJCRANE]

28. Everyone deserves freedom.

That's the whole point.

But not "freedom" enforced from the barrel of a gun or imposed by a de facto One Party State.

[blues90]

30. Yes we deserve to be free , i feel i do

I think at times we should have stood up in 2000 and took to the streets with millions but no one did . we seem to be doing mass protesting less and less , oh there are protests , no get covered so if people don't seek the news out they will never know .

This november may be too late , i don't feel secure waiting for elections , I don't know if we will have these elections .

I see the only hope is to drop whatever we are doing and hit the streets and go for broke , if not we may never have the chance again .

People tend to try to hold onto what they have got and save it . This however relates to a car jacker putting a gun to your head to take your car , you hand them the car and when safe then fight it . We are safe now to fight these people before they put the gun to our heads which they have not done yet but this is just around the corner .

I agree they are not going to stop and will do anything they can to keep their control , look at Iraq for crips sake .

[undergroundpanther]

32. Freedom

To me real freedom goes deeper than a government that behaves..Freedom from exploitation and domination,now that is true freedom.Freedom from abuse,from con men,bullies,from manipulators,and sadists,from any people who want to control what you feel what you think what you say about your perceptions,and to suppress and stifle your self actualization and self identity and perceptions as you see them and feel them with contrived "norms"' and conditioning,to push conformity and artificial limits that are not connected with sane social boundaries..that is what true freedom is about..Freedom from AUTHORITARIANS.The world needs to become an asshole free zone.

[noonwitch]

33. I don't know about the rest of you, but I deserve to be free!

You all can make up your own minds about what you deserve.

I've voted in every election since I've been old enough to vote.
I'm a good american citizen.
I pay way too much money in taxes not to have a certain amount of freedom guaranteed to me.

[undergroundpanther]

35. Freedom is something we all deserve

But what about us our instincts our social conditioning the more negative beliefs we are indoctrinated into as children,and what about certain people among us who want control of people and their lives and persons above anything else,malignant personalities who will stop at nothing to stop us from being free or actualized selves? THIS many pronged problem of perpetrator,bystander and enabler and the way we cope in an uncertain world that can be deadly and painful,THAT is what we must undo,for the ways we cope now do not work and harm our freedoms. This problem is what we must understand and attempt to undo if we are to ever be truly free of tyranny itself.It's an individual and social problem mirrored in abusive people as in bullies con men etc.,abusive homes and abusive governments..Same pattern same nature to the problem in the dynamics of sick relationships.

What factors in certain relationships makes relationships sick?
How can we stop sick relationships among our species ? I'm talking abuse dynamics starting from small scale relationships like an abusive couple to big scale like an abusive business or government?
HOW DO WE STOP ABUSERS who do not want to stop abusing others so they forever cease causing structural and destructive problems in relationships and power structures?
That is the crux of fixing this whole mess.
The toxic personality IS the problem as it has been since the beginning of time. We make a justice system to deal with them they simply infiltrate it and pervert justice..what do we do? There are not many options left,rehab does not work,and the Earth is dying from their predatory greed and abusive ways.
We are locked on a Planet with persons with the abusive personalities who wear masks of sanity just to abuse the trust of their chosen targets and to control power.What are we going to do with them now? They don't stop until they are forced to or killed. The founding fathers knew this. We have forgotten and learned to tolerate things we never should have out of people who think they have "authority" to dominate us and tell us what to feel think say or do...or else..