FREEDOM!!!

I admit, my political leanings go more towards the pinko/bed-wetting/liberal end of the spectrum. However, I do know several people who are more liberal in their views than I am, or more vocal about it, so I think I'm not extreme. Perhaps just extreme for the bible-belt south.

Over the years, sadly, I've more or less learned to select my audiences carefully. I generally keep my discomfort with the group think to myself.

Last night, I actually expressed a couple of my thoughts, and that was the breach in the damn we needed.

Phenom and I had this very nerdy, deep-thoughts type of discussion about the current state of things. And, I think it's important to understand the difference between being dismayed over what our leaders are doing, and the sacrifices of individual soldiers. But, I'm not sure how fighting in Iraq or Iran or Korea or Libya right now is actually "preserving our freedom."

I think we need to consider more carefully how we define "freedom." I argued with Phenom that my assumption is that a good majority of people in this country believe that they have the "freedom" to say and do pretty much anything they want, shy of murder or buggering children. I would further argue that this is a substantial group of people who define their "freedom" as having the right to impose themselves on other people's freedoms. We have freedom of religion, but that gives me the right to say that your religious belief system is wrong and ought to be outlawed, right?

Maybe, before we thump our chests, deny rights to groups of people who are weaker or smaller, and go marching off to impose our way of thinking on others, we need to think a little more deeply about what we really mean when we toss the word freedom around.