On Liberty and Freedom

I know he's a Frenchman, and in normal circumstance I would tell you to ignore almost every word he uttered because of that fact alone, but Voltaire had wisdom and believed in freedom. He also penned one of the most moving stanzas I've ever read:

"So long as the people do not exercise their freedoms,
There will be those who wish to tyrannize.
For tyrants are active and ardent,
And will devote themselves in the name of any number of gods,
Religious and otherwise,
To put shackles upon sleeping men."

Any of that touch a nerve?

This was written over two hundred years ago, and it's as applicable today as the day these thoughts were put to paper.

Right now, at this very moment, there are people within our government who are draping those chains around the shoulders of everything and everyone you hold dear. Right now, as you are reading these words, the clasps are being closed around the wrists, ankles, and neck of Americans everywhere.

The locks are being secured, and your freedom is becoming only a distant memory--a word that has no true meaning, and no real substance related to our lives anymore.

We have allowed the tyrants to take over, and you need look no further then Washington Ave and the big white mansion sitting behind impenetrable gates. You need look no further then the oval shaped office, and the man sitting behind the desk who basks in the adoration of his fans while allowing the fires to rage.

For while we sit here today, our country is burning to the ground. The ideals of freedom and liberty are being torched, and soon the only thing we will be able to pass on to our children is a jar filled with the ashes of possibilities, disappointments, and lost dreams.

Tyranny, in it's most current form, is insidious and secretive--changing faces and soothing with a slick tongue and reassuring lies--and it guides you toward things of little or no consequence while just beyond your sight the real games are being played out in backrooms, hidden agendas, and through the constant control of your conscious focus and attention.

This game is being played by experts, and the goal is to secure and expand their own power. It's being played by both Republicans and Democrats, and they care nothing about the principals upon which this country was founded--they care only about their own reelections, bases of power, and the growth of movements that contradict and threaten our very Constitution.

Have you ever noticed the placating, soothing way in which our president speaks--offering words of sympathy and empathy, enticing the public to shower praise upon him, while ignoring the very issues most important to our country.

Have you ever noticed that not once has the Federal Government upheld your own personal freedom and liberty, or offered to lessen it's own influence in your daily life? Have you ever wondered why our politicians seems to be so out of touch with the true issues, and so blatant in ignoring the wishes of the public and their own constituencies?

" . . . to put shackles upon sleeping men . . . "

Can you not feel these cold chains being placed upon you, and while the shackles are shut tight sweet lies are whispered in your ear?

A Frenchman could see what we, as a people, apparently cannot--the true delicacy of freedom, and the vigilance with which it must be guarded to insure it's safekeeping for ourselves, and for the future.

The shackles are cold and unbreakable, and the moment the locks slam shut escape becomes an impossible dream . . .