author: D. Burbeck
The freedom that Lincoln gave to the slaves is the classic
case, and I will not give a lengthy discourse of it, for it
is what we all know and understand. But this is only one
variation of the definition of "freedom".
Consider the experience that we all have had - being
robbed or mugged or burglarized. Did the Police do
anything more than take a report? Did they actively
investigate and pursue the perpetrators? NO. Their
excuse would be, of course, that they cannot devote
detectives to every small crime that is reported. And
we all accept that. "Buy some insurance and get back
to your TV." The point is that people are actually free
to live a life of crime.............. until they get caught
red-handed.
But look at the other extreme of the criminal world.
Look at the corporate criminals. People like Michael
Milken, Fastow, Ebbers, etc. etc., and ask yourself -
Do these types of criminals get the justice they deserve?
Milken was the only one of dozens of shysters who
was even taken to court, and his punishment was a
laughable 18 months in minimum security and a fine
of $200 million - when he and his gang ripped off
close to $50 BILLION from the public and the
Government.
Now your starting to see the definition of freedom
that is cemented in the minds of our elected officials.
At a press conference during the massive looting in
Iraq, Donald Rumsfeld was being grilled with questions
when he put his head down, began shuffling his papers
getting ready to walk away, and said "These people are
free now. Free to become criminals."
The freedom to be bad......and receive a slap on the
wrist is a wonderful freedom. $9 Billion in Iraq totally
vanishing is a pretty good example, but a much more
lucrative game is the corporations gaining complete
control of the Federal Government (and proof is out
there that they did it with the control of the E-voting
machines).
The corporate world is becoming free to do anything
they want - destroy air quality, poison the water
supply, not be sued for harm to citizens, etc. They are
having Congress pass laws that take rights away from
citizens that have been in place for over 200 years. And
they are having Congress REMOVE laws that took
decades to get passed (deregulation). And a funny thing,
Congress is not updating the punishments for crime that,
nowadays, amounts into BILLIONS of dollars in theft.
Having the freedom to own a post office box in the
Cayman Islands and avoid hundreds of millions of
dollars in taxes, the freedom to buy into shady tax
shelters and avoid hundreds of millions in taxes, the
freedom to move operations to a communist dictatorship
and avoid hundreds of millions of dollars in wages and
benefits, the freedom to pay themselves astronomical
salaries and options, the freedom to shovel profits into
off-shore accounts, the freedom to keep the white collar
criminal code 100 years behind the times, the freedom to
decimate communities with Walmarts while sending sons
and daughters off to fight in illegal wars, the freedom to
break long-standing nuclear arms treaties with 180 nations
of the world, the freedom to break conflicts of interest rules,
the freedom to give mega wealth to your family and friends
for war profiteering, the freedom to keep the people in
turmoil over threats to their social and physical security
in order to keep their minds off of all of the above.....
these are the freedoms that the neo-cons love. And if you think
the Democrats are the answer.......think again.......they feed
from the exact same trough as the Republicans. (Just check
your Democrat's voting record to be sure.)
The really sad part is that these "freedoms" are being handed
over to them by a complaisant electorate that has a remote
control in their hands and would much rather watch a good
game on TV than stay informed about the sadistic game
being played on THEM! And the neo-cons are banking on it,
because they are quite aware that there are very tough times
ahead!
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