Arky51's Blog

Identity without Freedom is Totalitarianism,
Freedom without Identity is Decadence.

-- Natan Sharansky

The Case For Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror.

Simply put: Freedom is essential for Security and Prosperity, and every People and Nation deserve to live Free in a Democratic Society.

Natan Sharansky, a former Soviet dissident, political prisoner, and human rights icon who has spent his life championing democracy and freedom. His latest book is Defending Identity: Its Indispensable Role in Protecting Democracy.

So, what does that have to do with being an American? Much, if you were not aware. But then, if your education is a product of current educational trends, you have been taught that anything that divides one group of people from another is evil. National Identity, Language Identity, Religious Identity, Gender Identity
. . . all have the propensity to divide one group from another.

But, let me ask you this: don't you love members of your own family more than you love people of other families? If you answer truthfully, I think you will say, “Yes.” Is that somehow evil? I don't think so. Isn't it Natural and Normal to love your own Papa and Mama more than you love the Papa and Mama of a school friend?

Look also at the Hypocrisy of the School System in this. When it comes to Competitions, Team Loyalty is unabashedly promoted without apology, just as in Society, in general. The Bulls are Rivals of the Gators, and the Gators are Rivals of the Bulldogs, and the Huskers are Rivals of Big Blue, and the Rays are Rivals of the Yankees.

The Teams are representatives of the City that hosts them. And, most people in that City are unswervingly loyal to their Team, even to the point of physical altercation, on occasion. Teams which have not garnered Loyalty form their Host City have more than once moved on to another City.

That brings us to the Real Point. If you don't feel enough Loyalty to something to fight for it, you are very likely to lose it. If you do not believe in America enough to fight and even die for it, you are certainly liable to lose the Freedom which it affords you. The enemies of Freedom and Democracy see America as the Shining Light Symbol of Freedom and Democracy in the World.

Those enemies are loyal enough to their Ideals, and do believe in their cause enough to die for it. And, what more glorious a death can they have than dying in their quest to snuff out and bring down the Beacon of Liberty.

Do you have enough American Identity?  Can you have too much American Nationalism?  Do you actually cherish your Freedom?

"No man thinks more highly than I do of the patriotism, as well as abilities, of the very worthy gentlemen who have just addressed the House. But different men often see the same subject in different lights; and, therefore, I hope it will not be thought disrespectful to those gentlemen if, entertaining as I do opinions of a character very opposite to theirs, I shall speak forth my sentiments freely and without reserve. This is no time for ceremony.
. . .Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death!”

-- Patrick Henry, March 23, 1775.

Decadence:
- process of civilization's decline: a process of decline or decay in a society, especially in its morals
- state of decline: the condition of a civilization in decline
- immorality: a state of uninhibited immoral self-indulgence

Totalitarianism: (in political science)
- the system of government and ideology in which all social, political, economic, intellectual, cultural, and spiritual activities are subordinated to the purposes of the rulers of a state.

ORL