BSODmyself

It’s that time of the year again. Independence Day is one of my favorite days of the year, but for the past six years it has been more of a bittersweet experience. Ever since that first July 4th after 9/11, I just haven’t been able to really feel free. I often sarcastically say that we are still free to pay our taxes, still free to get a driver’s license, and when we want to say something, we are now free to go to a “free speech zone” to say what we want to say — so why am I complaining? Yeah, there’s been a marked reduction in freedom over the few years. A frog will allow itself to be boiled alive as the temperature in the pot is slowly raised. So goes our freedoms.

As typical also for this time of the year, I am also railing on about the perception that we have a choice — a choice of two polished, professional politicians to vote for every year. While this angst is typically geared toward getting political parties on the ballot, my focus is now encompassing the plight of the lone write-in candidate whose votes get thrown out if they can’t complete a petition drive before the election (as is the case in North Carolina).

But even getting past the politics, I’m finding more and more that I’m not free. Getting past the existence of the government in my life, I am a slave. I look at where I’m at situationally. Who got me there? For the most part I did. How do I deal with my situation? Not well usually. I’m angry, anxious, exhausted, fearful, nervous, and depressed most of my waking hours now-a-days. I could live in an anarchist paradise, with only myself calling the shots for my life, but I still wouldn’t be free because of what I’m feeling and how I’m dealing with it.

As I reflect upon the true meaning of freedom, independence, and liberty, I’m reminded of the title of a book by 1996 and 2000 Libertarian Party Presidential nominee Harry Browne. It’s called “How I Found Freedom In An Unfree World“. I’ve read excerpts. It sounds like something we all start reading immediately as we not only reflect, but as we begin to realize what being free truly is. Hey, it’s Independence Day — what are you doing just standing there? Watching fireworks?!

This entry was posted on Friday, July 4th, 2008 at 3:30 pm and is filed under Politics, Rants.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.