Freedom's Value

Like most people, I have specific opinions about things –

• Diversity – the ways in which we are different from each other – gives strength to our groups and communities.
• Learning is valuable; a degree / diploma simply checks the box to provide varying levels of substantiation to education / learning.
• Yes, the toilet paper should roll over the top of the roll unless your restroom is used by those who have loads of fun with long streams or soft piles of toilet paper.

IMHO, my opinions are important to me and the way I live my life and have little to no importance within the grandness of our universe. The chaos of recent days motivates me to share my opinion on some important issues; issues that affect each of us in varying ways and degrees

I’m a “Bill of Rights” kind of person. A long time ago (even before the Magna Carta was created in 1215), a series of basic human rights was established. The United States of America spells out these rights in the Bill of Rights, a grouping of amendments to the USA Constitution. The people who drafted each of the amendments that comprises the Bill of Rights were very familiar with a government (or group or person authorized by said government) enforcing a “regulation” in a manner completely out of line with the spirit of the regulation. So the people putting the Bill of Rights in writing carefully chose the words they put to paper. This essay focuses on one of the amendments in the Bill of Rights that has been on my mind in recent days.

1^st Amendment – Most of us know this has something to do with the freedom to speak our mind (much like I am doing in this essay). But that is only a portion of the first amendment. The amendment, which I vaguely remember memorizing in high school, is as follows:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

Simple terms?

• Congress has no power to dictate how a person / persons create, participate in, and dissolve religious organizations and practices.
• Congress has no power to stop a person / persons, or people in media / press organizations from speaking freely (note that libel / slander typically is not covered by the 1^st amendment).
• Congress has no power to stop people from peacefully gathering.
• Congress has no power to stop people from telling the government (or groups / individuals associated with government) something should be changed. Congress has no power to punish people when they do tell the government (or groups / individuals associated with government) something should be changed.

It is of note that the phrases “unless it makes sense”, “unless circumstances make it important”, “in case of dire situations” are not included in the words of this amendment. These freedoms are guaranteed always to each citizen of the USA while residing in the USA. 

I value my freedoms. I have family members and ancestors who have gone to the ends of the world to ensure that I have the freedoms guaranteed me by the USA Constitution, Bill of Rights, and other Amendments. And I’m not okay with any jurisdiction within the USA demanding that I give up even a tiny piece of the freedoms that people have died for, fought for, suffered for, and lobbied for. So the recent flood of governmental mandates restricting the right of people to peacefully assemble does not go over well with me.

One of my family members is a transplant recipient and is on immunosuppressant drugs as a normal way of life. Both my parents and my husband’s parents and many loved ones are older than 65 years old. I have close family and friends with asthma, some who are prone to bronchitis, and other loved ones with immune system issues. I understand the source of the recent mandates. 

But the viewpoint of the mandates is skewed. Rather than mobilizing those of us with minimal / normal health issues to do everything necessary to take care of the needs of those with compromised or at risk health, the mandates restrict freedoms. I want my government to be all about guaranteeing maximum freedom for all; those freedoms need to be kept in mind when deciding the level of protection to provide to or demand from constituents. 

Today I read an old blog post from a few years ago on a very different issue. Yet the point of what I wrote was that people were socially distancing from each other because of fear. If we avoid every situation with an element of fear, we'd be at home alone (or as close to alone as possible) all of the time....