On this July 4th I hope you’ll remember that the U.S. of today bears little resemblance to the beacon of freedom envisioned by the authors of the Declaration of Independence. The chief liberty sought by the founders was freedom from economic oppression. But there are always powerful people willing to go to any ends to protect their hordes. So while the economic royalists in our midst have always had their place, they had been nearly controlled and their exertions almost brought into alignment with the greater public good until the complete breakdown of the last 50 years.
You are not free if your employer chooses your doctors and what they can prescribe.
You are not free if your only chance at higher education and self-betterment requires permanent debt to the private banking cabal.
You are not free if your right to self-determination in body, mind and heart is at every turn undermined by hypocritical religious radicals.
You are not free if your only expression of self-worth is the constant display of overwhelming violent force.
You are not free if you live in fear of change and progress.
You are not free if you have given up community spirit and the willingness to share.
You are not free if you have no respect for human dignity and no respect for Life, itself.
You are not free if facts cannot persuade you.
You are not free if you would sabotage human liberty to gain greater and more invasive power for industrialists and entrepreneurs.
You are not free if you believe you are better than others.
And you are not free if you believe only one thing.
The American experiment in democracy is on permanent hold. We live in a hollow plutocracy with a dwindling middle class and some of the worst civil services in the developed world. But the states could change it. A constitutional amendment brought through the states could remove the money train from the federal election process. This could be achieved by We, The People, with no input from congress. We could cut off all of their campaign contributions and back door deals with one pen stroke. Do you care enough to make real change? To restore the democratic experiment? Have a happy 4th.