A Word on Freedom

 , By Ronald Howard Livingston
on Thursday, September, 13 2012 08:56:00 pm   , 326 words  
Categories: Uncategorized , 36915 views

 

(This small essay was posted to my social network blog on 4 November 2008. Though published four years ago, the current presidential slate of mediocrity makes the piece as germane today as it was then.  What a pity that anymore such elections have become in the land of the free and the home of the brave a selection of "the lesser of two evils.")

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Freedom of speech entails the right to ask questions and to suppose out loud.  It entails the right to be silent when you care to share nothing to a conversation or other situation.  Freedom is as much a matter of not doing as doing, exercising a choice.  (Universal service, for example, is not service; it is slavery.  Involuntary servitude is slavery and "service" against your will is involuntary servitude and certainly not freedom. When you choose to serve others you are exercising true freedom.)  Freedom of speech is part of your right to vote.  Freedom of speech is also exemplified by a decision NOT to vote, especially when one feels that those put forward for one's vote are not WORTHY of it.

Freedom of speech is a right, but often not a protection. You will be vilified, insulted, harassed, and maybe even threatened (and more rarely, complimented), for exercising this right.  Not voting does not cancel your right to speak. For by voting, or not, you have spoken. Freedom is about doing what you think best for yourself and for others about whom you care. No one should be told "You HAVE to make a choice, and you HAVE to vote." If you are not happy with candidates, haven't studied the issues, or just don't even want to participate, you have a right to abstain. Such is just plain common sense, and rudeness to those who abstain is repugnant and a poor reflection on the derogator, who thus is no exemplar of freedom.

A right not exercised is still a right.

 

(Photo: Photobucket.com)

 

1 comment

Comment from: Rei [Visitor]
ReiI think it is difficult to have the means to be able to run for a prominent office without having sold one's loyalty to the highest bidder.
09/14/12 @ 02:21

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