Freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of petition, the right to bear arms… These are just some of the freedoms we enjoy as citizens of the United States of America, but we cannot accept these freedoms, can we?

 Lets take a look at a few of them.First, freedom of speech. As Americans we have the right to say anything we want, right? We can talk trash about races, the military, our president, homosexuals, people we dislike… anything… or can we? At some point it was decided that censorship was needed in television, movies, and radio. We have the freedom say anything we want and yet the definition of censorship is “The suppression of speech”. What? What about our freedom? It doesn’t matter. In todays society we can say whatever we want, as long as it doesn’t offend anyone, exclude anyone or, god forbid, a child should hear it. In order to be “politically correct” or “child friendly” we have had our constitutional rights removed from us. And not only that, we GAVE them away, willingly giving up rights that this country was founded on. Freedom of speech? It was a good idea, a nice anecdote in a dusty old textbook, but not something we are willing to accept or fight for. 

Secondly, the right to bear arms. While I fully believe that weapons and firearms need to be regulated, what’s this with trying to get them banned? What, little johnny shot his brother with his dads 22? Oh no! Lets not blame the dad for leaving the gun on his dresser or blame both parents for not teaching the kid not to point anything that “goes boom” at his brother, lets blame firearms! They kill after all…

See how ludicrous  that sounds? The constitution gave us the right to protect ourselves and others if need be. I sternly believe that if you commit a crime then you should not be able to access weapons, but what about the rest of us? People want to ban guns because “they kill”… Really? Guns kill? Wow, then, my pencil misspells a heck of allot of words. And my car sure runs allot of red lights. And, if guns do kill, why are we arresting all of these “murderers”? Seems to me we have allot of innocent people in jail and allot of murderous guns on the loose.

But hey, these are some of the same people who must back everything up with science, so lets get scientific. No one on earth has EVER died from a gun, nor a bullet. No one. You can die from cardiac arrest, or from anaphylactic shock, but it is completely scientifically impossible for a gun to kill. 

Now, a big one, freedom of religion. Personally, I find this to be the greatest freedom we have. We get to experience people of different religions and see the culture it creates. We can practice what we believe in without fear of being killed for it, we learn to accept what people believe and love them, even when we disagree. It is truly a great freedom. Why, then, is it always up for debate? Radical conservative groups picket against any belief, lifestyle, or thought that they disagree with. Atheists go on television and bash anyone who believes in a higher power. And we can’t even learn about differing beliefs in school because its wrong to teach creation, and yet wrong to teach evolution. Kids can’t pray in school, even if its the religion they have the FREEDOM to practice. And now they don’t even want the kids to look at the flag of our great country and recite a pledge with the word god in it… 

We can’t have god in our pledge, we can’t have god on our money, and god has to be stricken from schools. But hey, heres a radical thought. Maybe the guys who wrote the pledge, designed our money, and started our schools believed in god! Don’t they have the right to have their beliefs carried on in their creations? 

The way I see it, we have so many freedoms in this country that we don’t know what to do with them. I think every American should live in a communist country for a month, you’ll appreciate the good ‘ole red, white and blue then, won’t you? You try to bash the accepted religion and are beaten for it. You protest a law and are silenced. When you came back I bet you would never take our freedoms for granted ever again.

See, Americans like things their way. We cannot accept that others have a right to have their lives going their own personal way. We believe we are right and everyone else should be just like us. Thats why we cannot accept our own freedoms, because they are just that, FREE. Freedom of religion means that someone can worship a rock in his front yard if he wishes, he can then use his freedom of speech to tell you that what you believe is completely incorrect. And then, instead of remembering how hard the mothers and fathers of this great nation worked to give him those rights, instead of looking patting him on the back and loving him, what do you do? You riot, you picket, you complain, you revolt. And all along there is someone, somewhere, longing for the freedom to simply uncover her face in public.  

Welcome to America. Home of those who cannot accept freedom, and do not know the true meaning of being brave. 

~Cliff Bumgardner