I have been thinking about freedom and what it means to me - and I believe Kris Kristofferson had an excellent point when he said that "freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose" in Me and Bobby McGee. But that is only one aspect of freedom. There are some other freedoms that are incredibly important to me, and those include the freedom of belief and expression. These are also some of the more difficult freedoms to grapple with, as having those freedoms in place not only gives ME the freedom to believe and say what I will (with certain limitations); it also gives YOU the freedom to believe and say what you will. When that really gets crappy is when I so wholeheartedly believe that you are wrong that all I want to do is shut you up.
The first amendment to the US Constitution guarantees us the freedom of speech - and the freedom of belief. It is worrisome to me that a large group of people want to really limit this freedom - and in reality strip one large group of people of it. Led by Donald Trump, the call for surveillance of mosques, encouragements to have people turn in their neighbors if they act suspiciously, and a ban of Muslims to enter the US (which may be temporary and may have exceptions depending on what day of the week it is), is actually finding a fairly solid support.
The problem is that it is easy for a lot of us to say this, especially if we are not Muslims ourselves - because a lot of us don't necessarily know too many either. We know Islam has been the religion of many recent terrorists (but far from all, although we don't always talk about some of the other attacks as acts of terrorism), so banning them from entering, encouraging reporting of suspicious activity, and watching mosques seems like it can make us safer. Except it doesn't. It makes us more fearful. Perfectly innocent activities can be interpreted as suspected activity if we already believe they are capable of heinous acts. And, to use examples from nazi-occupied Norway, neighborly disputes were quickly settled by reporting your neighbor to the nazis, and while we still have greater protection of our civil rights here in the US than we did in nazi-occupied Norway, I can easily see this happen here as well as fear keeps gripping.
It is too easy to accept limits to other people's freedoms. But that really misses the point. A limit to other people's freedom is a limit to all our freedoms. And this isn't about us and them. It is about all of us. An American is an American is an American - but beyond that, a human is a human is a human. This is affirmed in one of the most significant texts of the US canon, the Declaration of Independence, which holds that "all men are created equal", and our "inalienable rights" include "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." But all this gets lost in fear and paranoia.
Now this isn't what Neil Young is singing about in his iconic song Rockin' in the Free World from the album Freedom from 1989. He was attacking our callous attitude to the less fortunate in society - but that in turn is also about seeing things from an us and them perspective. It's all us. And the sooner we realize that, the better off I believe we will be.
And so I have rambled. I might have to make my thoughts more coherent, but this is what you get today. And you get to keep on Rockin' in the Free World. At least until January. So vote in November - and by all means, do not vote Trump. To quote Elizabeth Warren: "I'm with her!" And then she pointed to Hillary Clinton. Finally, before you tell me to shut up or pack my bags and go back to Norway, remember that first amendment of the constitution we celebrate today. If you want to keep on celebrating it, also celebrate the fact that it allows me to write these words. And I do that in celebration of that freedom.
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