Tuesday, November 20, 2007

The Phrase

We've all heard the phrase before, at least most of us who are over the age of 25. In fact, those of us over the age of 25 used to hear it all the time. I can personally vouch for that. What phrase am I talking about?

One that I used to hear frequently and randomly dropped as a remark or comeback in a conversation: "It's a Free Country!"

I remember people used to say it all the time. It was the standard response when someone would make a remark about something that they refused to tolerate, forgetting what country they lived in...the USA.

Ever notice that you seldom hear it now? I've noticed.

I don't remember the last time I actually heard someone use that term as a response. Frankly, I think that means something. I think there's a reason why we seldom hear people say it and I don't think it's because the phrase was just a fad since long faded out.

It's easy to assume that perhaps I am worrying about nothing. But if you live in the USA, take a good look around you. Take a good look at what the evening news shows us every night. Take a good look at what the newspapers say. Take a good look at what's on the Internet. Take a good look at our Constitution and the limited federal government it designs. And for those of you living outside of the USA, take a look yourself because the same fate is heading your way, if it's not already there.

We're losing freedoms left and right, by the Left and Right. If our federal government isn't squashing our economic freedoms one by one, their trying to obliterate our social freedoms. And they have no business doing either. Such things are to be left to the states. When left to the states, we have exactly (by today's standards) 50 possible variations of government to choose from. But that can't happen when the federal government controls too much, which is why the Constitution limits its power.

Back when the states could provide us with more freedom of choice, we could easily say "It's a free country", because if you didn't like the way things were in one state, you could always carry your ass to a different one and live the way you wanted to live there. But if the federal government controls too much, it doesn't matter what state you live in because too much power at the federal level makes all of the states nearly the same.

I never hear "It's a free country" anymore. I think that's because we are heading in the direction of no longer being a free country of united states. Sure, sometimes we take a few steps forward, but we always end up taking a few steps back.

I think it's time to reverse that trend. It's time to bring back that famous phrase which many of us know and love and use it vigorously! Perhaps part of the reason why we often lose site of the freedom we are supposed to have is simply because people stopped saying that phrase on a regular basis. Or, maybe we just became too apathetic and let our freedoms erode.

Either way, we need to start saying it again. This blog is a dedication to repeating the phrase, "It's a free country," whenever you can. The more people that say it and the more often they say it, the more it will happen, and the more we will be a free country. I think a lot of people simply need to be reminded of this simple fact that we are, in fact, supposed to be a free country.

This message is for those of you on the outside of America, as well, because that is how American freedom is supposed to spread through the world...not by the barrel of a gun, but by EXAMPLE (more to come on this later).

I plan to start using "It's a free country" in my everyday speech, talking to people on the street, on the phone, in email, and most certainly on this blog. And, I'll be pointing out facts and opinions that give meaning to that phrase. Some of you might not agree with the various points I will make regarding freedom, but that's okay:

It's a Free Country!

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