Illusions Of Freedom And How Governments Keep Us From Freedom

Is this you? Do you ever feel like "your hands are tied?" When you think about freedom, what does it really mean to any of us in the year 2022?

What Is Freedom?

Freedom is defined as the power to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint. It is an absence of subjection to foreign domination or a despotic government. It is a state of not being imprisoned or enslaved. Freedom is the state of being physically unrestricted and able to move.

With all of that in mind, ask yourself if you feel free. If the answer is no, then you are not alone. By todays' constructs, freedom has become more abstract than absolute. What was once protected and guaranteed now feels hindered, and like it no longer exists.

Freedom Of Movement

Over the past two years, we have witnessed many firsts in our country and the world. Since the beginning of the pandemic, things have not felt so free. The argument by the counter-culture that has sprung from the pandemic era is that the government has continually tried to hamper our freedoms through abuses of power. While I recognize that we are living in unprecedented and historic times there is no denying that our basic freedoms were hindered by the governments in response to the pandemic.

When the world went into lockdown one of the most basic aspects of freedom was hampered on a global scale. We were trapped at home instead of being able to live the life we worked for. Businesses closed down due to no customers, doors to restaurants were locked due to Covid-19. Governments forcing businesses to close resulted in many people altogether losing their businesses. For many, it's been the darkest time ever imagined in history. For others, it appeared to be business as usual. As the governments feared what was to come next, it lead us into the most uncertain times.

For a time, many people lost their freedom to enjoy their lives due to the circumstances we all faced. Simple pleasures like going to the movies, or having a beer with friends, suddenly had vanished. Stories about police being dispatched to break up gatherings circulated on the internet, adding to the fear of retaliation if people bucked the system. For many, it no longer felt like the American in which they had grown up.

Freedom Of Speech

The thought and word police have been working overtime over the past four to five years and continue to wage their holy campaign against…well, I don’t really know. There was a time not that long ago when freedom of speech was a guaranteed and protected freedom. How the world has changed.

Thanks to certain differences in the world, like most communications being done by social media, news agencies becoming extremely slanted, and a general lack of government leadership, the freedom of speech looks very different than it once did.

Twitter banned a former president, alleging his speech is possibly going to incite further acts of aggression in America. People cheered for this and maybe they knew they were cheering for censorship, maybe they did not. It put the country on a slippery slope, however.

As reasonable people know, there was nothing about Donald Trump's speech on January 6th that would have made them commit a federal offense. I liked many of Donald Trump’s policies when he was in office and did like I do with any president that ascends into that position, tried to be supportive, and hope they’ll do the best for our country. So when the billionaire businessman from New York turned politician and proved that he shouldn’t ever hold a mic, like most reasonable people I took the man for what he was.

The censoring of people in this country shows that freedom of speech only remained an important, and fundamental freedom of an American if you were on what the establishment considers the right side, or more aptly, their side. Looking at other inflammatory speeches, there is no equality when it comes to censoring. There is only one side against the other.

Everybody in America has probably seen the videos that have been shared showing representatives such as Maxine Waters participating in what is clearly speech intended to incite outbursts. Confrontational is a clearly identifiable term associated with violent, often dangerous, outbursts and actions by people. When it comes to Maxine Waters, it's not even the only occurrence of it happening. And yet, the very same party that demands people be censured for saying things they don't agree with, or that are over the line, blocked an attempt as censuring Waters.

Censorship is a slippery slope that now that we're on, probably will not let us off of it until there's a fully new paradigm in leadership in America. The censoring of thoughts and ideas has historically been a herald of dark and evil days to come.

Freedom Of The Press

Until President Trump did we ever think that we would see our members of the press treated with such inflammatory comments by the leader of the free world? Well, of course, we did. Looking back, even President Obama had problems with the press that he didn’t respond to in a manner without controversy.

As the press, they have a specific job to do. Their job is to get and report on the facts of key issues and events around the world. While Obama is accused of utilizing the enforcement arm of the government against members of the press when they pushed too far on certain issues, such as the infamous birth certificate question, that pales to the bullying-like treatment the presidents of today use.

Look at the way President Biden refuses to answer some questions that don’t favor him and then lashes out. Telling members of the press that they’re asking stupid questions wasn’t even the end of his tantrum-like responses to dealing with the news media. Biden would go on to call news correspondent Peter Doocy a “Stupid Son Of A Bitch.” Perhaps Presidents Trump and Biden went to the same class in public relations. Neither one, I suspect, received a grade of average or above.

Are We Really Free?

The truth of the matter is that we aren’t free. We aren’t free to do whatever we want to do. We aren’t free to go wherever we want to go. We aren’t free to say whatever we want to say. We are regulated. You may have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness but getting to those things is going to cost you unless the path to them is in your backyard.

To keep the world from plunging into anarchy and chaos modern man has evolved into nations of laws and regulations. Much of this has kept modern man secretly enslaved to the cruelest of slavemasters, the banks, and the rich.

We’re all a slave to the government. We all are required to pay the tax to get around because the government controls our transit. It’s been deemed legal and constitutionally acceptable to require people to be licensed for many of their freedoms.

Money may not buy happiness, but it will certainly give you fewer stressful nights if you have money rather than not having money. How do you achieve having money? You work for your money. How do you get there? Most of America drives to work. Enter licensing.

In the state of Illinois, we have to pay the government $150 a year to be able to get to and from work. Failing to do so can end you up having to pay a fine for not paying the original fine, paying to have your car taken out of impound, and the loss of wages. You have to pay a fee for your driver’s license for the privilege of driving the automobile that you bought and paid for. And, let’s not forget the taxes you have to pay on the car you just bought. All of this keeps you beholden to your government.

Should you wish to open a business or go into any type of specialized career, you’re going to remain a slave to the government that controls the licensing. From attorneys to some delivery drivers, armed security to inner-city cab drivers, you’re regulated and will be required to have a license to perform many tasks.

Conclusion

The illusion of freedom that we all have has been created by, of all things, control. It seems the destiny of most of mankind is to live subjugated to a controlling government, whether that be the overtly tyrannical control of countries like China and North Korea, or covertly like the United States, governments aren’t serving our interests any longer. They’re controlling them. As long as we are all a slave to the dollar, to the institutions created to guide us, and to governments, freedom will remain an illusion.