SATURDAY, JUNE 29, 2024 LIBERTY/FREEDOM

 

SATURDAY, JUNE 29, 2024 - LIBERTY

Next week is American Independence Day - (The Fourth of July).  Yesterday, I looked at LIFE - today, Liberty -and the Pursuit of Happiness on Monday.

So, what about “liberty”?

Definitions:

The state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views."compulsory retirement would interfere with individual liberty"

the power or scope to act as one pleases. "individuals should enjoy the liberty to pursue their interests and preferences."

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My personal bias is that library is slowly being eroded in the United States.  

Many books have been written over the years. (Of course, I have heard—I haven’t read all of them.) The number of books published in the United States each year ranges from 500,000 to 4 million, depending on whether self-published books are included. Some people are demanding that certain books be removed from libraries and schools.  

Okay, I don’t want XXX-rated books in elementary school. But, some people wish to such books out of libraries, out of book shops, and more.  Some talk about the friendship between two girls or two boys.  Some want books banned that might tell my story (transgender).  They have objected to honest books about slavery in the United States - get those books out of my kid’s library. We don’t have slaves - some might go to the point of saying, “We never had slaves in the United States.” 

How many cameras have you been on today?  How many people have access to the tapes of those cameras?  Yes, those cameras can protect us from evil people.  Who was trying to break into my apartment?  Let me look at the video to see.  

You can be tracked when you use your credit card.  If you want to disappear, go to the mountains and hide; you can be tracked whenever you buy gas or a meal - if you use a credit card..  Facial recognition can be used if you go into a gas station to pay with cash.  

Yes, if you shoot somebody and then try to run away, it is hard to do.  Your car license is known, and your face is known,  On one hand, that is good - we want to track murderers down - I don’t want a murderer living next to me.  But I just want to disappear from the “rat race.”  I have twenty thousand dollars in cash - I have an idea for a shanty in Wyoming.  I could buy a used car (with cash) and hit the road.  

It will be easier to find a person with the technologies of electronic vehicles and artificial intelligence.  

Now, if you are a decent person who just decides to start a new life someplace else - and you want to get away from an abusive husband - you can be found.

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So - we have sacrificed liberty / freedom for safety and security.  But, in terms of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” - its not the same as when that Declaration of Independence was signed.

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It’s not all bad, but society is creeping in on our liberty and freedom.

BUT - I KNOW WHERE I CAN GO - I CAN FIND THAT LOVE WINS

LOVE TRANSFORMS

Karen Anne White, June 29, 2024