Values of a Free Society

Feb 15, 2005 01:41

I pre-apologize if this one seems long. Some ideas simply cannot be adequately explained when condensed.

I have many contentions with our current president, many more than I would ever be able to discuss here, especially in a single posting. However, there is one that is burning on my mind right now. A comment he made during his State of the Union speech.

"Our second great responsibility to our children and grandchildren is to honor and to pass along the values that sustain a free society."

It sounds nice, of course. It was meant to. And I'm sure whichever speech writer thought it up has been well paid for the effort. What bothers me about it is how it contradicts the very nature that's found in the Bush administration.

Let's take a closer look. "The values that sustain a free society" is a rather vague soundbite that in a speech like this doesn't need to be explained further. But what are the values that sustain a free society? In a personal brainstorm I came up with several; independence in thought, diversity, tolerance, and the freedom to affect change.

Independence in thought is necessary to a free society simply because if no one were allowed to think their own thoughts, to formulate their own opinions, then the society is not really free. I think we all learn about dictatorships and totalitarian regimes in our high school history classes, and the lack of independent thought is a telltale sign of such.

Diversity is also important to a free society. The basic fact of life is that we are all different. There's no getting around it, it's a biological building block. If we create a society in which diversity is not promoted than we are creating a stagnant society. It's easy to look back on history and see examples where the attempted expulsion of diversity led to the creation of societies that were by no definition free. For examples, read up on the KKK, the holocaust, the civil rights movement in the US, ethnic cleansing in Kosovo, the Tutsi and Hutu in Rwanda, the genocide in the Sudan, and a myriad of others. Fostering diversity will foster a free society. Any group of people represent a certain amount of diversity, and if diversity is not cultivated than we are creating intolerance amongst ourselves. This does not aid in building a free society.

Tolerance is likewise an important concept. It comes hand in hand with diversity. Without tolerance we raise tension between people. We separate ourselves based on our differences, and allow our intolerance to dictate whom we will accept. Intolerance breeds hatred and violence and discrimination. None of these are the values of a free society.

The freedom to affect change is also important to a free society. Societies evolve over time, and history again will tell us how changes were made to compensate for this evolution. Here in the US we've witnessed the Abolitionist movement, the suffrage movement, the civil rights movement, just to name a few. They all promote greater tolerance and freedom to parallel society's evolution. Without the ability to affect change we could become trapped in societal parameters that would quickly become outdated.

Now that I've explained the importance of these four concepts, let me revisit Bush's statement.

"Our second great responsibility to our children and grandchildren is to honor and to pass along the values that sustain a free society."

It's a walking contradiction of the actions the Bush administration has taken, and actions do indeed speak louder than words.

Independence of thought has not been promoted. I wont go too in depth on this, as I could do an entire posting on the unilateral nature of the media. Media control is a big part of it though. For a long while, no pictures were allowed of the caskets of military personnel killed in Iraq. How does that allow us to see the consequences of this war for ourselves? Recently, a number of editorial writers have come forth saying that the White House paid them to promote some of the Bush administrations ideas. That certainly doesn't foster independence of thought if you ask me, buying and selling what's supposed to be the expression of opinions. Even just the propaganda and use of doublespeak hinders independent thought. Imagine how it would look if you were seen as unpatriotic? But who defines patriotism these days? Bush.

Diversity is most certainly something that Bush has not worked to foster. In fact, I would go so far as to say he's waged war on the very idea. Allow me to use one very simple, very defining example. Gay rights. Where's the freedom in a society in which homosexuals are afraid to come out? Where's the freedom in a society in which two people cannot be legally committed to each other because they love each other, simply because one person's definition doesn't accept it? Where's the freedom in a society in which discrimination is promoted against a group of people? It's not there. Bush's handling of civil rights issues in general, not just gay rights, has been to further discrimination against the minorities, and this does not promote either diversity or freedom.

Tolerance, again, comes on the heels of diversity. Bush is not working to create a more tolerant society, one in which people feel comfortable being themselves and comfortable in expressing their own personal freedom. He promotes discrimination, the very opposite of tolerance, and because of it we have truly become a nation divided. Where's the freedom of a society in which you have to fight for the right to hold to your own beliefs and opinions?

The ability to affect change. I fully support activism. I have followed the protests against Bush, and I have watched as they have been slowly restricted more and more. The epitome of this could be seen at the National Republican Convention. Organizers created a small area for protesters. It was closed in by fencing on all sides, had exactly one entrance/exit, and looked more like a prison cell than the base of a protest. It's ludicrous, restricting free speech to a small cage. Protesters have been gaining more and more momentum in and of themselves, but hey are constantly meeting resistance from the Bush administration. This is where I would politely point out that it was a group of protesters and activists trying to affect change that began the creation of our country. It's the heart of a free society, it's spoken for in our Declaration of Independence. And it's a value not fostered by the Bush Administration.

Which brings me back once again to the statement in the State of the Union speech.

"Our second great responsibility to our children and grandchildren is to honor and to pass along the values that sustain a free society."

After considering this idea, considering the actions taken, considering the very essence and meaning of it, the only response I can come up with is that George W. Bush is a hypocrite.

Though I am proud to say that I for one am working to honor and pass along the values that sustain a free society to my peers and to all generations.
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