Can We Be Free Without Free Thought?

Land of the free occupied by media zombies who try to saturate our brains with their preferred versions of B.S. Politicians who quack endlessly about their righteous beliefs and pronounce them as truths. We the quagmire of people who open our ears to this mindless menagerie of 24 hour propaganda without batting an eye and seemingly accepting one viewpoint or another without critical thought. Or closing our minds to all this babble without thinking at all. Can we be free without free thought?

The framers of a our Constitution, all thirty nine of them, comprised of thinking male gentry from different walks of life created a document that requires thoughtful consideration and life long analysis. Read it again if you haven't done so lately and think about the relevance of the words for today. Read the Bill of Rights and all the other amendments to our Constitution and consider how thoughtful humans considered the shortcomings of the original Constitution and amended it to fit the times and growth of independent thinking. True political leaders staked their political futures by advocating changes that included the right to vote to women, and citizens of all colors, both ignored by the original framers of our Constitution as was slavery.

We have traveled a long distance since July 1, 1971 when the 26th Amendment to our Constitution was ratified that gave the vote to any 18 year old citizen who was already eligible to be drafted to serve and die for our country in times of war. We as a nation recognized the hypocrisy of our own Constitution and fixed it.

Today we are faced with similar life and death issues and hypocrisy concerning the availability of health care for all our citizens. Perhaps a constitutional amendment is needed just as for the right of all citizens to be free and to vote at an age when they are called to die in wars. Are not all citizens entitled to health care if for no other reason than to keep us healthy enough to fight the wars we are sent to fight by the politicians we elect? They occupy Congress and the Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats seem to believe that we have the duty to die in wars but not the right to have health care that they give themselves with our taxes.

And many of us seem to accept this bunk without thought. Can we be free without free thought? Seemingly we can be free to die without health care so why not be free to reject the call to die in a war as well? Think about this paradox and then decide to support universal health care for all citizens. We have the right to free thought so use your mind to decide what is right.

Was Abe Lincoln a Racist? Are We All Racists?

"All persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free..." Did this quote from Abraham Lincoln prove that he was a racist? Probably yes, according to another Republican, Sen. Jeff Sessions from Alabama who is describing Judge Sonia Sotomayor as a racist for her belief that her Hispanic heritage added depth and better understanding to her application of our Constitution and laws.

It seems that Sen. Session considers that any statement favoring or enabling any group is a statement of racism. What would have Sen. Sessions have said had he been a contemporary of Abraham Lincoln when Lincoln not only favored the slaves but also a possible rebellion carried out by them to free themselves. Seems safe to say that Sen. Sessions would have gone into a raging fit of anger against Abraham Lincoln.

We all are products of our heritage whatever that may be. We are all shaped by our early life and the influence of parents and others who were around us. Thus we all have prejudices of one sort or another that are ingrained just as did Abe Lincoln and as has Sen. Sessions who was exposed to the racial antagonisms in Alabama where he lived as a child.

Our individual life experiences have shaped us in ways that we cannot fully understand, and we all harbor some remnants of prejudice and distrust. The first step in understanding our deep rooted prejudices is to confront them and become aware.

Abraham Lincoln did that as he prepared the nation to end slavery even if it meant war and rebellion by those who were enslaved. Sen. Sessions has not faced his own deep seated and racial prejudices and therefore he attempts to demean a women who has lived and faced racial prejudices as a child and young adult. Sen. Sessions is a product of the deep South when outright exclusion of non-whites was practiced openly and proudly by many whose skin color was near white. If he was truly color blind he would recognize his prejudice and stop the harangue against Judge Sotomayor.

Perhaps Old Abe will arise from his grave and shake some reality into Sen. Session's brain and soul. We could all benefit by a good shake by Abe.