Saturday, April 07, 2018
Land of the Free
...home of the contemporary desire to whittle away freedom.
It’s been common for prominent conservative voices over the decades to note that America is “The Land of the Free.” The left seldom notes this because they don’t consider America free, and won’t consider it free until every citizen has had the last drop of autonomy rung from them. I once argued with a leftist who said that, “your need to be free imposes on my freedom.” ...Ahh, okay.
Europeans and others around the world no doubt wonder why an American feels justified uttering praise for freedom in American as a manifestation of ”American exceptionalism.” Certainly Canada is free (so long as you don’t express dislike for Jihad or that you use conventional pronouns when addressing others). Australia is free (so long as you turn in any powerful weapons you may hold to defend your family).
Lots of countries around the globe are “free” — on paper — by a variety of standards. North Korea and China enshrine freedom of religion and freedom of the press in their constitutions. I haven’t read the several hundred pages of the EU constitution but I’m pretty sure it guarantees basic freedoms as long as one adheres to the state specs on vegetables and citizens restrict their criticisms of religion to Christianity only.
To be sure, America’s constitution — on [parchment] — promises a host of conventional freedoms.
When Americans (typically, more conservative Americans) speak of their country as an exceptional “land of the free,” whether they know it or not, they are not talking about the promises on a document. While the codified freedoms in America are written, what makes America free (thus far) is not written. What makes America free is an understanding beyond words and that stems from a long unique — exceptional — cultural tradition.
Of course everyone knows that the United States has often “not lived up to the freedoms” written or understood and expected — slavery probably being the most egregious example (notice that was outlawed after a long and brutal struggle). This is so self-evident that I usually shrug off the observation with a yawn and two eye-rolls when I hear it. What’s your point?
“You only think you’re free” - the classic line uttered by someone who would like it to be less so. The Post-modern / Neo-Marxist ideologue will constantly remind us that our flaws or failure to live up to our written freedoms fully is ample excuse to deprive us of all of them.
An example of where freedom on paper and freedom in life diverge is Japan...and, many other countries. Japan is a free country. You can criticize the government, hold personal religious beliefs of your choice, and seek and express a variety of opinions but...many Japanese citizens must belong to their local community organization and eventually they will be called upon to be treasurer, conveyor of messages, or the leader of this “organization.” The person called upon is called a “volunteer.” A “volunteer” can’t say, “no” thus creating the Orwellian concept of a compulsory volunteer. I once had a student, a single mother who worked full time, who was appointed the role of volunteer in her community organization. In addition to working full time and performing all the households chores of a mother, she had to spend several hours a week in her role as “volunteer.” It was “her turn” and apparently her fellow citizens saw no need to make an exception for her circumstance. Apparently “compassion” doesn’t count when we’re dealing with obligations to the collective. I had another student close to retirement age who quit is job early because he didn’t have time to both work and take on the burdensome role of “volunteer.” Students often seemed shocked when I told them that neighborhoods in America somehow survive and function without allegiance to a compulsory community organization. In fact, Japanese neighborhoods got by okay when these unnecessary organizations were banned under General MacArthur. They were only reinstituted after the American post-war occupation (because some narrow-minded control freaks thought it would be a good idea...in my opinion).
Japanese citizens, for the most part, are wonderful people and basically pretty “free” but there are a million and one expectations in daily behavior that go unquestioned. There is an old Japanese saying that “the nail that sticks out is hammered down.” I don’t know about you, but I don’t feel like being “hammered down” and I wouldn’t feel very free if one was doing so.
In our neighborhood, we have to write our name on our bag of recyclable plastic. This is so the garbage “volunteer” can gauge the quality of disposal - everything must be done a certain way. This occurs daily in many common interactions. The Japanese constitution guarantees freedom of religion but not...freedom to pursue happiness. There are expectations, and in the struggle between the individual and the collective, obedience to the system, “the man,” or whatever you want to call it, trumps all. The classic collectivist appraisal; the pursuit of happiness is “selfish.” Therefore, everyone must become a slave to everyone else — the equal distribution of conformity and unhappiness.
In America, you can pretty much walk down the street with a purple chicken on your head. You may be mocked, laughed at, or just looked at with disdain or puzzlement but, in the end, no one cares. It’s none of their business. There is no clause in America’s constitution regarding the color of chicken permitted on one’s head (maybe the EU constitution has a section on that - ?).
To be sure, there is a wide spectrum among the nation states of the world as to what freedoms are permitted or, more importantly, accepted as natural rights.
From its founding, American society and culture has been one where the renegade or loner has had a wide degree of autonomy. Of course, the autonomous individual can choose to join any number of groups or affiliate with anyone of their choosing. Some brilliant men eloquently codified this autonomy in a very short and simple document, America’s constitution. But, in the end, the document itself is not what affords freedom to America’s citizens, it is the exceptional circumstance of a culture that has evolved over time to the goal of freeing the citizen from the expectations and dictates of their fellow citizens. Given the choice to volunteer, many Americans will (and do). Some will not...because they are free to choose what allegiances they will devote themselves to.
In America’s long history of freedom there have always been those who despised the idea of freedom for fellow citizens. If they had their way, they’d regulate your every breath. The clowns of autocratic control are on the march now more than ever. To implement their planned world, they know that the line of attack is most successful in the nooks and crannies of daily existence, the words we use, the thoughts we have, the food we eat. Their first step is to micro-manage the little things. When they’ve successfully beaten the culture into obedience, the stuff on paper — freedom of religion, speech, etc. — is a minor detail to be dealt with easily.
Being the land of the free means having freedom of speech, religion, and press, etc. It also means not having to “volunteer” if your schedule and free choices are different than what your “community” demands.
Freedom means never having to say your sorry, even if you choose to wear a purple chicken on your head.
As an aside, when America stops being the home of the brave, it will cease to be the land of the free. That time is quickly approaching.
