Free Doom

We as Americans, live in a country that is rooted in freedom. As we progress through time we lose appreciation for the qualities that make our nation great. We begin to believe the freedom’s we have in America are mandatory and universal, but to many around the world the United States is the promise land. My blog this week will attempt to display the conscience effort put forth by our forefathers and the lawmakers that came after them, to make America “the land of the free.”

A person can not truly be free unless allowed to take part in the political process. The United States government is put in place to act on the behalf of the citizen. If a large percentage of the citizens are not allowed to vote, the political representative is not getting a valid opinion of the citizens. The left out percentage of the population still falls under the jurisdiction of the law, but has no say in the passing of the law. This is a form of slavery that does not need whips and chains; it is control by exclusion, and legislated oppression.

America took notice of this injustice and amended the laws of the constitution. Freedom to vote for African Americans came in 1965. Many of our parents were born in a time when African American people were not allowed to vote. Our current president was born in a time when people of his ethnicity could not vote. Ironically, African Americans still have low voter turnout. You would think, with all the time and effort people put into gaining civil rights, a person would at least take advantage of it.

The most surprising aspect of freedom is that people take it for granted. Not only do they not take advantage of it, they complain about how the country is ran after the fact. I feel that people that do not vote make the decision, through indifference, to accept what ever they are given. It is much easier to point fingers at the problem, than to get your hands dirty searching for a solution.

Imagine living in a country like Saudi Arabia where women can not vote, drive, or even walk the streets alone. When compared to the United States, Saudi Arabia is not another world, it is another universe. At the same time a woman walks into Starbucks, wearing tight jeans, to order an over priced latte, a woman, in Saudi Arabia, is baking in the dessert sun, in a thick black robe with nothing exposed but her eyes and hands. 

We, as American’s, need to develop a sense of pride in our country. The United States may not be perfect, but it is still the world leader in freedom. We need to be conscience of what is going on in the world around us. Everywhere is being Americanized. This is a show of admiration. When we compare America’s problems with the problems of a country like Saudi Arabia our complaints seem petty and ignorant. It’s funny that everyone sees how great a nation we live in except us.