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Freedom's Birthday
It's coming on the Fourth of July. I'm thinking
about my country as I hang my laundry on the
clothesline. The sun is hot on my back and I need a
nap. It would be much easier to throw the clothes
in the dryer. But my wife is making us all commit
to using less electricity. I am complying with
mixed feelings.
I love my country. And I plan on telling my
daughter, Molly, what I love about it when we go
watch the fireworks. I love the freedoms,
especially the freedom of speech. I love the right
we have to vote for our leaders. And I love the
civil rights we enjoy, which hold the great
diversity of our citizens as equal under the
law.
As a child I felt great pride in being an
American. I remember in grade school holding my
hand over my heart and reciting the pledge of
allegiance in unison. I felt that I was part of a
nation that was a model for the world. I wish I
could encourage that same sense of patriotism in my
daughter. On the other hand, I do not want to set
her up for the disillusionment I later
suffered.
The first blow to my naive pride was the Viet
Nam War. Since then, a long deepening awareness of
our nation's politics have continued to sour my
respect for our government.
As my attitude has grown more cynical it has
been difficult to celebrate the fourth of July with
sincerity. I have come to take our beloved freedoms
for granted, without appreciating them fully, or
adequately respecting our forebears for securing
them.
Molly, at age eight, however, is too young to
understand my sophisticated analysis of the demise
of true democracy in the USA. She is just learning
the basic principles of freedom, justice, and
equality. So I am trying to keep my cynicism in
check for now, as we celebrate the birthday of
freedom in this country.
But there is one point I would like to make to
those of you who share my ambivalence about being
proud to be an American. It seems that in our love
of our freedoms we have embraced a bad apple that
is spoiling the whole bunch. I call it the "freedom
of greed", the unbridled pursuit of wealth, without
a sense of responsibility to the common good.
Our nation has sanctioned a huge concentration
of wealth in the hands of a few. The richest 1% of
our population now control 40% of our nation's
wealth. The top 10% control 71% of the wealth. This
allows the very wealthy to determine which
candidates can raise enough money to run for public
office. The very wealthy have also consolidated
ownership of almost all of the major media,
undermining our access to alternative viewpoints.
These are just two of the most basic ways that
gross economic inequality threatens all our other
freedoms.
We see the effect of the freedom of greed
when:
- The US refuses to follow the Kyoto agreement
on global warming, claiming that expanding our
own economy is more important than cooperating
with other countries to manage the global
ecosystem.
- Congress fails again to pass meaningful
campaign finance reform.
- World trade laws written by corporate
leaders subvert citizen's rights to protect
workers and the environment.
- President Bush allows power wholesalers to
manipulate supply and overcharge California nine
billion dollars before consenting to federal
price caps that immediately solve the crisis.
(Just think what that nine billion could have
done for California schools!)
So as I save electricity by hanging my laundry
on the line, I am thinking of bigger changes I
would like to see in this country. Perhaps someday
we will come to a consensus on the need to limit
greed. Perhaps we will understand that no one is
served by a system that allows individuals to
become billionaires, and corporations to have more
rights than communities of people.
Back in 1776 Thomas Jefferson wrote about the
truths people then found to be self-evident. It's a
good list. But maybe there are a few more truths we
need to include.
© 2010, Tim
Hartnett
Other Father Issues,
Books
* * *
Your children need your presence more than your
presents. - Jesse Jackson
Tim
Hartnett, Ph.D. is a licensed Marriage and Family
Therapist in private practice in Santa Cruz, CA. He
specializes in Individual Counseling, Couples
Therapy, and Divorce Mediation. He can be reached
at 831.464.2922 or through his website:
www.TimHartnett.com
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