The Fragility of Freedom

 

“Freedom is a fragile thing and it's never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by way of inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation.” ~ Ronald Reagan (January 5, 1967)

In the weeks since President's Day and George Washington's birthday, I have been thinking about the history and the office of the Presidency. Washington is a president admired by all but perhaps the most extreme elements of our society. Presidents Adams, Jefferson, and Lincoln are others who are similarly respected. Some would add Coolidge, FDR, and Reagan to that list. These great men brought qualities to the office such as: extraordinary courage and vision, inspirational leadership, recognition of our country's unique & Godly heritage, and a healthy respect for the Constitution and the rule of law.

At the same time as one ponders these Presidents past, it's difficult to think of these great men without at some point making the inevitable comparison to the current inhabitant of the Oval Office. And that comparison, in my estimation, isn't a favorable one.

What we have seen thus far, as he stumbles and bumbles about from one domestic and foreign policy misadventure to another - reminiscent of Mr. Magoo - is a lack of coherent policy combined with an inability to articulate any discernible vision to the American people. We see in Biden, a dazed bewilderment, rheumy-eyed perplexment, and dithering indecision on the domestic front, combined with a dangerous projection of spineless weakness and dithering on the international stage. There is a demonstrable propensity to side with the leftist fringe elements of his political party, on issues such as the 2^nd amendment, the southern border, COVID policy, crime policy, or energy policy, even though these unpopular policies severely punish the American people. Sadly, there is also a clear willingness to flaunt the rule of law to consolidate executive power, restrict individual liberty, and silence dissent – as evidenced by their authoritarian response to the Chinese COVID virus.

That said, I don't want to divert into a discussion of the many and obvious failures of the Biden regime, but rather, to keep the focus on how swiftly hard-earned liberty and freedom can be taken away, when not vigorously defended.

In the past two weeks, we have all been shocked to watch the Russian dictator, Vladimir Putin, invading without provocation the sovereign nation of Ukraine (a country that I can trace some of my family roots through). While Ukraine has some of the world's richest farmland, energy and mineral stocks, it lacked robust military alliances and had previously ceded it's defensive nuclear weapon capability, leaving itself a tempting and vulnerable target for the neighborhood bully – Putin's Russian Confederation. The attack came by sending in tanks and troops, along with the indiscriminate shelling of cities from land, sea, and air in an attempt to terrorize civilian populations. Since the initial hostilities, we heard rumors of the use of internationally banned thermobaric and cluster bombs. We also saw reckless attacks on operating nuclear reactors, hospitals, schools, and a maternity hospital in acts of cold, calculating war crimes.

The Ukrainian army, air force, and navy found themselves hopelessly out-manned and outgunned. For example, their tiny naval fleet of 20 warships – left decimated, but unreplenished after the Russian seizure of Crimea in 2014 - proved completely unable to defend their own Black Sea port cities. Early in the attack, they were forced to scuttle their own flagship frigate to avoid its capture by the Russians.

With a history of highly restrictive firearms licensing and magazine limit laws (there is only one firearm per ten Ukrainian civilians), only a very small percentage of the population were adequately prepared to defend themselves and their families, while the rest of the world watched on the sidelines.  Only after the Russian invasion, did the Ukrainian parliament finally decriminalize gun ownership for self defense, allowing the people to protect themselves and their loved ones. Hopefully, the Ukrainian people didn't come to realize too late how fleeting the freedom of a naive and unarmed people can be.

The words of the Ukrainian-born congresswoman, Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-IN), serve to remind Americans of the importance of not allowing politicians or political parties to erode that precious right:

I'm so proud that strong, brave Ukrainians are willing to fight, again and again, to be free. It should inspire all of us in their bravery and actions – unbelievable. It should teach us and, maybe remind us, what it means to be a free country and how hard it is to get your rights and freedoms back when you lose it. We've had so many people die for our freedoms, so lets value and cherish them.

Indeed we should!

Before you say, "Yeah, but all that's over there," - we don't have to look as far away as Europe to see how quickly a formerly free people can be subjugated by a tyrant.  In fact, we only have to look to our northern neighbor.

While Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau may appear to some to be a harmless “leftist wimp,” (as former CIA officer and radio host Buck Sexton called him), he has in fact proved to be the heir-apparent of Saul Alinsky and a wanna-be dictator.  Like so many opportunistic socialists-turned-fascists before him, this little man has mastered the art of verbal subterfuge and political propaganda – by demonizing his detractors and accusing his opponents of being the very detestable thing he has himself become – which is, quite honestly, a fascist.  

Unfortunately for the targets of Trudeau's tyrannies, Putin's even greater brutality has - if only temporarily - caused the eyes of the world to turn elsewhere.

When faced with peaceful protests against what they considered his onerous COVID-related restrictions, Trudeau refused to meet or talk to them to hear out their concerns. Instead he and his fellow Liberal Party members first hid and ignored them, then demonized them, and finally dismissed these sympathetic and plain-spoken Canadian truckers – as laughable as it seems – as being terrorists, racists, Confederate sympathizers, and white supremacists.

Yes, you read that right. Trudeau literally compared the Canadian Freedom Convoy truck drivers, their families, and their supporters to terrorists and Confederates, while one of his Parliamental allies claimed the trucker's horn-honking was the equivalent of chanting “Heil Hitler” – simply because they opposed his onerous vaccine mandates and his other restrictions on their freedoms.

Using this false narrative as a pretext, and aided by a docile and fawning state-controlled Canadian media, Trudeau declared a marshal law-like state. By utilizing existing anti-terrorist statutes – the Emergencies Act – a statute intended for threats to national security and territorial integrity and designed for wartime and terrorist attacks, he aimed the full power of the police state against his own citizens. He froze the private bank accounts of both middle class truck drivers and their financial supporters, intimidated non-state-controlled reporters, shut down businesses and seized private property without the benefit of a warrant, and even subjected crowd-funding organizations to money-laundering and terrorist rules - all too reminiscent of Stalin starving Ukrainian peasant farmers.

In a final act of brutality, seen in a widely circulated video, we saw his shock troops beating a truck driver who was already on his knees with his hands behind his head and watched Ottawa mounted police forces violently charging in and breaking up the crowds whereby trampling an elderly woman on her mobility scooter (and reportedly joking about it later).

Just a reminder, this wasn't Chechnya, Syria, or Somalia - this was Canada.

Will Americans take heed before it comes here?  Or will we stand by complacently as our freedoms are taken from us, bit by bit, or in large bites?  Sadly, the verdict is still out on the question.