Off My Lawn

Written & Submitted by Alex Locke;

The one word, though constantly overused, that many would use to sum-up all of our so-called American Values is 'freedom'. Though it has become a mantra for every red-blooded patriot, we rarely stop to reflect upon what it truly means to us. Every individual will, undoubtedly, arrive at his or her own conclusion. However, chances are that you do not share the same definition of freedom as those of the founding fathers of this nation. It is well known that a large portion of our country's founders believed in personal and local autonomy as opposed to a strong, centralized, federal government, which is more or less the system we follow today. Incontestably, freedom is simply a state of being free, or of being unhindered by any other force. How then, can we associate a nation with such a strong central government, and with such endless forms and bodies of legislation, with the term 'freedom'?

In their most basic, rudimentary form, laws stem from a desire for order, safety, and prosperity. Laws began from a few basic principals which we adhere to today: do not murder, steal, cheat, or lie – what we have come to know as the building blocks of 'right and wrong'. From these, codes of law were built, adding and expanding the powers of legislative bodies to include negotiating property disagreements and divorces, business etiquette, religious practices...All these additions began to spiral downward ever closer to complete domination of morality, an entirely personal concept which is at the very core of our freedom.

Our government, whose original proclaimed purpose was to act as a loose conglomeration of states, has transformed over these past 231 years into an imposing and unstoppable world power. The positive gains from this forceful expansion of power, both internal and external, has proven advantageous to our country in many respects. Naturally however, such behavior has coaxed the wrath of weaker nations, whose citizens fervently and violently resist the grasp of American influence. In the words of our enemies, we have brought terrorism upon ourselves. In consolidating all of its resources, and in assimilating all of its people, our nation has romped across the globe without repercussion until very recently. It seems entirely obvious that, much like the Roman Empire, our government has stretched itself too thin, and has neglected to consider what 'freedom' means to the foreigners we so subjugate.

In continuing to accost precious freedom our administration has turned against it own people, tearing down the barriers of political appropriateness, and infringing onto our personal lives. Politicians have, over the last century, made it their prerogative to impose their own beliefs into the public sphere. Though they probably would not have supported gay-marriage, women’s’ suffrage, or emancipation, the founding fathers would most certainly have supported the rights of people to exercise they're own personal freedoms. If two men want to get married, fine...Senator X could be the most homophobic person on the planet and still support their right to exercise their own, personal rights.

The gradual distortion of political responsibilities has ultimately led to the proposal of outrageous laws transforming abortion and gay marriage into crimes. However, this would not be the first time victim-less crimes have been distorted into dangerous ones. Throughout the Reagan administration it became policy to combat the 'drug problem'. Billions of taxpayer dollars were flushed away burning jungles in Colombia, when the real problems lay in the rampant poverty of the inner cities caused by the blunders of our angelic executive branch. Today, lawmakers sit on Capitol Hill deliberating on the legality of abortions when they should be allocating funds to educate and distribute birth control. Bureaucracy talks about the evils of marijuana use, when every credible scientist worth a dime will testify to its benefits.

First and foremost, government exists to protect our rights and our freedoms. It is only just that we demand that those whose duty it is to uphold it honor our American ideal. We should demand, as participating citizens of a unique experiment, that our leaders respect the rights of all countrymen to make our own decisions, regardless of their own opinions or their doubt of our own responsibility. Its time for America to grow up.

Written & Submitted by Alex Locke.