“Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.”

-Benjamin Franklin

Freedom is a blessing we take for granted far too often, especially as we are granted greater freedoms for a greater duration.  It becomes easy to give up freedom for comfort, for seeming ease of mind.

 

Let’s make a commitment to truly honor those that have blessed us with the greatest gift, liberty.

Think about all of those that have fought and died so all of us in the United States of America can have the opportunity to have incredible lives.  We have the right to go where we want.  We can say what we want. We can hop on Yelp, or Twitter or Facebook or a blog and express our opinion any time. You can work and do whatever you want. This is true now more then ever that information is becoming free.

 

I take for granted my freedom all of the time

I am sure you do to.  So let’s take some time this weekend to pay more then lip service to those that have insured our liberty throughot the history of this great nation.

As information becomes more fluid, there are many that want it to be locked down. There are many that have made their livelihood by controlling information about themselves or information about the rest of the world.  These people claim that information must be controlled for reasons such as national security

There are many that would invade our privacy in the name of security.  There are many that would not want everyone to have the right to entrepreneurship or education because of their background.

Let’s honor the gift of freedom with action

Think about something that your freedom has given you.  The right to own a house, which is just now being granted in Cuba. This is a country which is closer to me then the capital of the U.S..  Think about the right to information.  Think about the right to free speech.  Now consider the ways this is being challenged in the US everyday.

My Challenge To You

I challenge you to find one story about those wanting to infringe others rights in this great nation of ours.   Some US state governemt want to be able to stop ANYONE to check their documetntation to “protect us” for illegal immigrants.  Some organizations want to be able to invade our homes and detain us without warrant to “protect us” from terrorism. There are plenty of these stories out there.

Action to honor your Freedom

Go to a site such as

http://www.change.org/

http://www.npr.org/sections/us/

Home

and find a story where our rights are being challenged and discuss them at your 4th of July party.  Propose some actions anyone can take, like writing a senator or telling 10 others about these stories. Do this instead of watching the Casey Anthony trial.  Please.

So many gave their lives so we can be free.  The least you can do is give up the security and comfort of not disturbing anyone for a few monents. Flex your right to read and say what you want.  Challenge those that would challenge our rights.

Remember this.  Even even one American’s right to freedom and liberty is taken away, you and your family is losing theirs as well.

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