STWR - Share The World's Resources

Dr. Charles Mercieca ~ STWR Member

President of International Association of Educators for World Peace NGO,
United Nations (ECOSOC), UNDPI, UNICEF, UNCED & UNESCO
Professor Emeritus of Alabama A&M University

Nation of Complete Freedom: American Society in Perspective

Over the last 6,000 years of recorded history, there has never been a nation in the world that claimed to provide full freedom in virtually anything possible than the United States of America. If we were to take every single country, one by one, from a small nation like Nauru with a few thousands of people to a big country like China with well over one billion people, we will always find freedom being restricted in one way or another.

Visible Blessings of Freedom

This may perhaps explain why the United States has become a nation of immigrants or, as President John F. Kennedy once called it, a conglomeration of nations. Of course, there are various types of freedoms. Some may appear to be beneficial while others detrimental. Among beneficial ones we may enlist the freedom of worship, of culture, of education, of career selections, of extensive traveling, of free speech, and of politics.

1. Freedom of Worship: Unlike some nations in Asia and Africa, the American people are free to practice the religion of their choice and not just the one that was imposed on them at birth. As they grow older, they remain free to change their religion and be converted to another as they please.
   
2. Freedom of Culture: Each culture is deeply respected and guaranteed protection by all means possible. People are free to wear the traditional western style of dressing or, in the case of Orientals and Africans they may dress the original garb of their ancestors.
   
3. Freedom of Education: Children who participate in public schools may pursue any kind of study they wish but, unlike those who attend private schools, they are advised not to practice in the open their religious beliefs. This stems from assuring respect toward those with a different ethnic background.
   
4. Freedom of Careers: There is not one job in the United States that cannot be pursued if one would want it. If it does not exist, one is free to create it with no hindrance whatsoever. On the contrary, in a number of instances financial assistance is available for such purposes.
   
5. Freedom of Extensive Travel: If you were to travel periodically in various global areas, there is one thing, which is almost certain. You are likely to meet with a number of Americans there. The freedom of travel without any hindrances is deeply entrenched in the traditional make up of the nation.
   
6. Freedom of Free Speech: The right for Americans to speak in the open their own mind is protected by the constitution and supported by the courts of law. They may even demonstrate against the US President and, as long as everything is conducted peacefully, they cannot be disturbed, far less arrested.
   
7. Freedom of Politics: Although the United States has two major political parties, yet several other parties do exist as well and they are all free to present their platform anywhere and at any moment. They are free to recruit and to expand and to present their own candidates for various elections.

As stated earlier, the United States is a country of freedom that may be beneficial or detrimental. We have brought to our attention a small list of freedoms people have that might be termed as beneficial.

Tangible Detriments of Freedom

We need now to explore the freedom that is detrimental as the freedom of bearing arms, of cold murder, of suppressing freedom, of promoting violence on TV, of pornography, of pollution, and of abusing the human resources.

1. Freedom of Bearing Arms: This kind of freedom was inserted into the US Constitution by the founding Fathers at a time when there were no trains, no cars, no airplanes, no radars and no telephones. It was then essential for one’s protection. Now the situation has changed but anyone may still purchase guns.
   
2. Freedom of Cold Murder: Since all Americans have the freedom to own and carry loaded weapons, same as the police and the military, it explains why every year, as noted by the United Nations, more people are killed in the USA by the gun than in all the countries of the world combined.
   
3. Freedom of Suppressing Freedom: Even though Americans have the sacrosanct right to travel freely anywhere in the world, the US government has recently restricted Americans from traveling in a number of countries that included peaceful Cuba, the next door neighbor.
   
4. Freedom of Promoting Violence on Television: In a capitalistic nation such as the United States, wealth and money are viewed the de facto “Godâ€Â� of the Nation. This philosophy is based on the premise that every American has a right to make money without limit, even when detrimental to other Americans!
   
5. Freedom of Spreading Pornography: There are no rules that govern human behavior in America as long as one’s ultimate objective is to make money. This applies to the sales of pornography, which tends to degrade women by reducing them from the level of sacred beings to the level of disposable toys.
   
6. Freedom of Environmental Pollution: The USA supports whatever it takes big business to make big money. This explains why the President Bush has cancelled the Kyoto agreement and relaxed restrictions against environmental pollution, even though this added to the increase of cancer in Americans.
   
7. Freedom of Abusing the Human Resources: Instead of using the human resources to solve the problem of hunger, the homeless, cancer, epilepsy, and heart disease, US government officials used their freedom to divert such human resources for the manufacturing of sophisticated weapons of destruction.

We may perhaps begin to realize and understand why the United States has been criticized by so many peace-loving people from around the world of the caliber of Pope John Paul II, former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela, former President of Costa Rica Oscar Arias, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, and the list goes on and on. The world “freedomâ€Â� sounds very good to the ear especially when freedom becomes the source of human fulfillment and happiness.

But when “freedomâ€Â� becomes equivalent to selfishness and greed that would benefit some to the exclusion of others, then such a freedom becomes dangerous. Freedom in itself is beneficial but when the use of freedom becomes abusive, then the promotion of such “freedomâ€Â� would be criminal. This explains why the USA has become so difficult to deal with. Its concept of freedom seems to be partly angelic and partly satanic. Our duty is to bring this into the open so that something constructive could be done to remedy the situation.

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