The Land Of The Free

"Where liberty dwells, there is my country."

- Benjamin Franklin

       On July 2, 1776, congress voted to adopt the Declaration of Independence which declared the thirteen established colonies on American soil to have sovereign freedom from the powerful hold of Great Britain.  This handcrafted document was more than just a demand for freedom, it was a bold and empowering stride for all the people who had been at war with King George III for their natural and legal rights, embracing their right to revolution.  A natural right is a persons right to be happy, seek peace, worship the god of their own choosing, hold to their morality, and what we often have heard described as the right to life and liberty.  These particular rights are nonnegotiable and inalienable, unable to be taken from us by any man.  A legal right is defined as a claim that is recognized and protected by sanctions of the law that enables or imposes some transaction, course of conduct, or the infringement of the state to provide a just remedy within its court system.  Of all the rights recognized by our founding fathers, the one that I hold the most pride in is the right of revolution.  Given that we are human beings under the rule of other fallible human beings, we have the privilege and the duty to overthrow a government that acts against the common interest of its people or threatens the safety of the people without cause.  Let us never forget that our leaders do not have absolute dominance over us, but rather our leaders have an obligation to the people.  Equitable rulers should take pride in the joy of their people and make wise decisions that bring about peace for all.
       Standing back to watch all of the political chaos and drama has allowed me the opportunity to take on a fresh perspective of what is happening in America right now.  I have decided that the separation between church and state that Thomas Jefferson wrote about to the Danbury Baptists, and James Madison outlined in the First Amendment, is an unfortunate necessity.  I know that the law was made in order to protect our religious freedom, but I choose to respect this law because I do not believe that lawmakers or law enforcers can be completely moral people.  Strong words, but maybe true?  Times like these divide the people into two groups: the lawmakers/enforcers and the rebel activists.  Times likes these help a person decide what they care about most: upholding the law of their land or preserving their soul through acts of morality.  A lawmaker/enforcer will follow blindly, see in black and white, and punish according to the statutes set by their superiors.  A rebel activist will not follow where there is already a paved road, they see many gray areas where compassion and understanding are deserved, and punishment is not always considered justice.  Both of these types of people may be required in order to make a country into a governed territory, but perhaps only one of these types of people are needed to create a peaceful lifestyle.  There was once a spiritual leader who served the masses and taught nothing but love and forgiveness, compassion and higher existence.  He cared not for the laws of man, following only the compass of his own heart.  To test his brand of justice, the lawmakers of the time brought a woman before the teacher who had broken the law and her offense was punishable by death.  The rebel activist answered them by saying, "Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her."  He was a radical law-breaker; unconcerned and uninterested in the politics and rules that bound society, and eventually he was put to death for his profound teachings that led the world in an entirely new direction.
       From a historical viewpoint, we are a nation made entirely of immigrants.  The British were the first to travel and permanently settle in America back in the 1600's, followed by the Africans (against their will), and then later the Dutch, Germans, Swedes, Finns, and Irish.  In the 1500's Spain established a few ports in Florida, founded San Juan and Santa Fe, and eventually San Antonio was settled by Canary Islanders in 1731.  By the 1800's California, Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico was covered with these settlements.  The French arrived in the 17th century to form Louisiana, Saint Louis, and parts of Michigan, Illinois, and Missouri.  The Canadians started migrating south and the Mexicans started traveling north.  Between 1841 and 1850 alone nearly 1,715,000 immigrants came to America to escape famine, poverty, religious persecution, and death.  Between 1820 and 1930 thirteen MILLION people came over from Britain, Germany, and Ireland to escape the Great Famine, and after the year 1880 nearly twenty-five MILLION Europeans came to America including the Italians, Greeks, Hungarians, Poles, and close to four million Jews.  It's very obvious to me that the ONLY people who live in America right now who are NOT descended from immigrants are the Native Americans.  The war we are now fighting is not new, it has in fact been waging since the very first immigration law was put into place in 1882 that prohibited only Chinese workers from migrating to America during the Gold Rush.  Even then our leaders were losing sight of the original vision.  Even though we weren't there, we can imagine the glorious day that the Statue of Liberty was dedicated to America as a symbol of freedom.  The robed figure is meant to be a representation of the Roman goddess Libertas, the national symbol of France and worshiped by emancipated slaves in ancient times.  A broken chain lies at her feet and her torch is held high as a beacon for all sea travelers who seek her asylum upon Liberty Island, the land dubbed "common to all the states" by Bartholdi.  Can we travel even further back to imagine what it was like to fearfully sit under cover and watch bombs bursting in the air, feel the ground shaking from the blasts, our ears ringing with screams and explosions, and then to wake the next morning to find that our flag, our beautiful waving symbol of hope and liberty and freedom, was still there?  How can we hold fast to our history while pushing away the very libertarian ideals that this country was built upon?  How can we uphold laws that turn away the very same poor, persecuted, and tyrannized peoples?  And how can we expect our souls to be at peace when we pass from this earth knowing that we have not done everything that we could to stop it?
Will you hold fast the torch for the Mother of Exiles?

THE NEW COLOSSUS

By Emma Lazarus 

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she

With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

"He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself."

- Thomas Paine

"May we think of freedom, not as the right to do as we please, 

but as the opportunity to do what is right."

- Peter Marshall