Freedom

Northern Americans just get all giddy when they hear that word. Even though it is illusory at best, it still seems to make us feel proud. 




To be sure, we do have the documents proclaiming our freedom. We have our Constitution that describes how our government is set up. The document is nationally revered by the tea partiers, who don't understand a damn word of it.


We have our Declaration of Independence, which starts with the thought that all men are created equal, then we ignore the thought for close to a hundred years practicing slavery. Of course, though the practice ended it would be another hundred years before there was something that resembled equality for all.




Then the one document that amends our Constitution, a changing document, is the Bill of Rights. This one guarantees our personal freedoms, and is constantly ignored by our government, except when it suits their purpose. 




Amendment 4 of the Bill of Rights guarantees our right to be secure in our homes, in our person, in our papers and effect, against unreasonable searches and seizures. After 9/11 the abominable Patriot Act came in effect nullifying that freedom. The people just ignored the ramifications; a scared populace is easy to manipulate.




Amendments 6 has to do with the right to a speedy trial and confrontation of witnesses, ignored now as well. Amendment 8 was the ban on cruel and unusual punishment, torture ended that one also.




Anyway, we do have the documents that supposedly control what actions the government can take. Doesn't mean much when you have a country of sheep that won't stand up to power, but the freedom is there within our reach if we take it. I guess most citizens of the United States believe they do have personal freedom, whether that thought is true or false, we believe it.




My favorite amendments, and the ones that are constantly in your face if you live here, is the 1st and 2nd amendments. 




The second amendment is the tea party darling. The right to, supposedly, own weapons. Yes, we have a country of death when compared to any other country that has the rules of government in place. We shoot our friends, our family and those who might be enemies. It is the american way for many people, mostly for those lacking empathy or intelligence, or a combination of the two. It really is a travesty that over a million people have been killed by guns since Martin Luther King and Robert F Kennedy were assassinated. Among twenty three populous, high income countries, 80 percent of firearm deaths occurred in the United States.




As has been said before, you can't fix stupid.




Now for the big one, the first amendment. Fuck, this one is fried. The first one is the Establishment Clause, Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion. That has been circumvented and we have established that christianity is our religion. This was done by creating special programs for "faith based" grants. 




The first amendment also guarantees freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of people to peaceably assemble. For protestors, they know that for the most part that free assembly is gone. You can do so, but no where near the source of your agitation, so why bother. 




As for freedom of speech, that's where proselytizing comes in. Yes sir, you can stand on your pulpit and preach nonsense; it's guaranteed by the law. The U.S. government loves this, because religion controls the masses. Yes sheep, talking to you.




Freedom of speech is not just for the religious, they just cling to it more than others; when you know what you're saying is certifiably crazy, you need all the help you can get. Freedom of speech is kind of a myth, you do not have the right to say anything you want in this country, but you can get away with quite a bit. There is no doubt that freedom of speech is a necessity for a democratic government.




If you think about it though, the religious do not really use freedom of speech to proselytize, they use a lesser known amendment, one I didn't know existed; the freedom to fucking bore us to tears.

Civil Rights and Religion

After the Civil War, many tried, unsuccessfully, to rewrite that portion of history. It wasn't about slavery, oh no. It was about a state's right to conduct business in their state as they see fit. The problem with the rewrite, and why it never really flew, is not that complex. While the southern states were clamoring over state's rights, they were trying to take those rights away from the northern states.

Since slavery was deemed illegal in the northern states before the southern states, given the chance and the desire, slaves would escape to the north. The south wanted those who escaped returned, and the north refused. Basically, while the south was clamoring about their rights, they were stepping on the rights of the states where slavery was illegal.

Politically it appears we've always tried to frame our ideas so that we looked compromised, we are the injured party; still happens today.

That is why whenever you hear of the civil rights of the religious, you need to look at all sides and make sure the idea isn't being subjectively framed for the benefit of those who should not be benefitting.

In the past decade, at least, the thought keeps being brought to our attention that if some shit for brains theist says they cannot perform part of their job because of their religion, that those who would make them do the job are somehow infringing on the civil rights of said theist.

Nicely framed.

If you look at an example where a nurse, doctor or pharmacist refuses to prescribe, inform, sell or perform a procedure, that allows a female to control their body, then you can easily see the problem. If you are the person looking for a remedy to a problem, then it is your rights that are being hammered if that remedy is withheld. A person should not have a religious civil right to maintain a job that they will not, for religious reasons, perform. In fact, they should be prosecuted.

Though title VII protects minorities, (at least whichever ones aren't irritating conservatives at the moment), it was never meant to be a one way street. You cannot pretend that your rights are being restricted because of the religious agenda you wish to advance.