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As a citizen of the United States, I realize that we live in an era that echoes similar unsettled and potentially dangerous episodes from our past. When faced with such uncertainty, we would do well to remember how much the American people and government honor the liberty that is our birthright. After all, if we do not recognize where we are and how we came to this place in history, how will we ever be able to navigate the murky shoals of the future?
So...
Thank you, America.
I am grateful that you recognize and support the importance of the individual above all else. Unlike other countries in which collective welfare is the norm, here there are no attempts at group warfare, the pitting of one set of people against another for political gain. Appeals to race or sex or age or ethnic background as justification for government actions are seen as the reprehensible actions that they are. In America, the philosophy of individualism is recognized as the foundation upon which all legitimate social interaction is built. Here, we know that "society" does not literally exist, that only individual people do. We realize how destructive calls for "the greater good" and "society" to trump the lives of individuals truly is.
Thank you, America.
I give credit to you for accepting the moral autonomy that belongs to each of us as human beings. As long as I am peaceful in my interactions with other people, I am the one who is able to make the choices that I judge are proper for me, as an individual. Here, there is no need to ask for "permission" or "license" or authorization for living any area of my life as I deem best.
I can decide who I will marry -- or not marry -- with no one interfering in my voluntary actions. My partner and I -- not the government -- decide what legal obligations we will or will not have to one another. We can decide how many partners we will have and what sex they will be. We can perform any mutually voluntary sexual act we desire in the privacy of our own home without fear of arrest or prosecution. We can watch or view or create any piece of sexually explicit material we want without the government infringing upon that expression of our selves.
I can engage in any career I want to, at any time I want to, anywhere I want to, as long as I am honest with my customers regarding the skills I offer them. I can work in any state I want to at any job I want to without permission. I can hire -- or not hire -- or fire anyone I want for any reason I want. I can do business -- or not do business -- with any customers I want for any reason I want. I can set the prices for my goods or services at any level -- extremely high or extremely low -- at any time, even in emergency situations. I can set my own hours, sell any product I desire (to any adult), and can set the terms for people who want to enter my place of business.
As an adult, I can consume any substance I want to, regardless of how dangerous or helpful it is. No one will interfere with my purchase or sale or use of any medical or recreational drug or vitamin or food or therapy or any other thing I want to introduce into my system. It is my body. I can commit suicide or refuse medical care any time I choose to do so.
As a parent, I can decide what my children will learn, where they will go to school, and how long they will remain in school. In America, I understand the sacred responsibility of being a parent. I would never attempt to foist onto others the cost of feeding my children, of caring for their health, of educating them, of entertaining them. I am not a parasite. As a role model for my children, I do not want them to think being a parasite is, in any way, shape, or form permissible. I know our cultural and political leaders stand ready wholeheartedly to support this moral principle.
Thank you, America.
In this country, I know that my personal property defines the boundaries of my rights. As such, my fellow citizens and government fully protect my property rights as sacrosanct and inviolable. My property is where my personal autonomy reigns supreme (within the context of proper social relationships). No one has the right to tell me what I may or may not build on my property; how I must build it; how much it must cost; what color or design or size it must be. No one can force me to seek permission to cut down a tree or to plant one; to put in a fence or to take one down; or to use a certain amount of water on my lawn or garden.
Unlike other countries, in America, no one would countenance even the slightest violation of my property rights for any reason. Citizens recognize that my money -- all of it -- belongs to me. That money represents the portion of my life devoted to earning it; that money results from the exercise of my moral autonomy in producing more goods or services that other people willingly purchase. Without my permission, no one can take any of my money for any reason, good, bad, or indifferent. No one's self-defined needs, no "social good," no tragedy can justify other people taking my money -- part of my life -- and spending it as they -- rather than I -- see fit. Not roads or medical care or police or armies or education or food or anything creates unchosen obligations upon another person. I appreciate the strong stand our government takes to resist all attempts to subvert the ideal that denounces involuntary servitude in any form up to and including the abomination that is conscription. Unlike in other nations, our politicians also understand that private money in the form of gold protects the wealth we have accumulated from government theft via inflation and serves to limit political power.
In America, the government remains an extremely small part of our everyday lives. As it should, it stays discretely in the background as we engage in our business, personal, and family concerns. Most of us rarely interact with government bureaucrats or politicians. None who go into the latter careers would ever act arrogantly, condescendingly, or imperiously to the citizens who employ them. Indeed, in America, those who seek out such employment are often viewed with suspicion of their intentions and/or their abilities. We know that a country works -- or does not work -- because of the productive actions of its individuals. We know from observing other countries that government can only make matters worse and that no government has ever produced value on its own.
Thank you, America.
I praise our government and my neighbors for staunchly supporting the rights of each individual to defend his life should he be attacked or face imminent danger from criminals, private or public. No one in American need worry that their personal weapons will ever be outlawed or restricted in any way. None of us has to be concerned that our right to self-defense will be undermined by requirements for licenses or permits to buy, own, or carry -- openly or concealed -- guns or knives or any other weapons we believe are required to ensure the safety of ourselves, our loved ones, and our property.
Where else but in America can the average citizen carry his rifle or shotgun or pistol in public without fear of interference or ridicule? Where else but in America does the average citizen accept that he is the one primarily responsible for his own safety? Where else but in America does the average citizen view the police as defenders of his rights -- his employees -- rather than as tools of a government intent upon intimidating, controlling, and dominating those who delegate authority to them in the first place?
In America, at least, I can find an airline that is glad to have armed citizens aboard. I can avoid airlines that ask that I fly unarmed, treating me as though I am the problem rather than the solution to security. No one-size-fits-all for Americans! Nor do I need worry about traveling by bus or train or subway: I can rest assured that the armed good guys will always outnumber the armed bad guys.
Thank you, America.
Given my moral autonomy, my right to my own life, my right to my own property, I give a nod to America's championing of my privacy. I know that here, at least, I will never be numbered and tracked and spied upon by my government while engaged in peaceful activities. No national identification card is required to work or to marry or to hunt or to open a business or to seek medical care or to drive or to do anything. I can rest easy knowing that my emails and phone calls and Internet usage and media purchases and all the rest will never be tapped or obtained without a warrant being issued by a legitimate court and then only upon probable cause for a specifically defined offense.
Unlike other countries, I need not fear warrants that give the police free rein to search anywhere and everywhere on my property, to take anything and everything they want for any reason whatsoever. There are no government cameras spying upon my every move while I am walking or driving or going to football games. I do not have to identify myself to any government official for any reason, even if I am suspected of a crime. I always, at all times, and in all circumstances retain the right to silence and anonymity.
Thank you, America.
In this country, I am responsible for my own life, and everyone else is responsible for his or her own life, as well. In this nation dedicated to freedom, I can live without fear of repression or star chambers or wars of aggression against other nations that pose no threat to my well-being or safety. In this culture, liberty is honored above all other considerations because the people understand that freedom -- and the rights and obligations attendant upon it -- is indispensible to living a truly human life.
In the United States today, I can live that life of dignity and security and fulfillment that only a foundation of complete and unfettered liberty can provide. The government and citizens of this land surely demonstrate every day the extent and depth of their commitment to my freedom and theirs.
So...
Thank you, America.
Thanks a lot...
