Ten Freedoms - By Ron Ross
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With our "progressive" erosion of liberties we are becoming
"UNWITTING VICTIMS OF THE DARKNESS"
"UNWITTING VICTIMS OF THE DARKNESS"
"As nightfall does not come at once, neither does oppression. In both instances, there is a twilight when everything
remains seemingly unchanged. And it is in such twilight that we all must be most aware of change in the air -- however slight -- lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness." - Justice William. O. Douglas Brilliant, eccentric and independent, William O. Douglas holds the record for the longest continuous service on the nation's most powerful Court: 36 years and 7 months. His opinions were characterized by a fierce commitment to individual rights and a powerful distrust of government power.
Ten Freedoms are a series of newspaper columns being written by Ron Ross of Aurora, Colorado. It is
the hope of the author that people will read the columns and/or watch the videos so that we do not fall asleep during the twilight years of our great nation and slowly become, as Justice Douglas warned us, "unwitting victims of the darkness."The introductory video essay is below. Freedoms 1 - 10 will be posted as they are written and produced.
Here is the introductory video:
Ten Freedoms - Introduction
The full text of the above video
Five freedoms are promised to us in Article 1 of the Bill of Rights of the Constitution. Here they are in the order in which they appear:
freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly and the freedom (right) to petition the government for a redress of grievances.Next week I’ll begin with the freedom of religion and week-by-week work through the first five. The other five freedoms, inventions of mine, will follow the five guaranteed to us in the Bill of Rights. You can decide if they are worth reading about.
Here is a summary of Freedoms 6 - 10:
Freedom #6. Freedom from intimidation. Don’t know about you, but I don’t think you have real freedom of speech if some ugly thug is standing over you growling, “Go ahead and speak, pal!” Neither do you have it if you have to fear ridicule and humiliation by those who disagree with you, an IRS audit, loss of your job, or censure by some ruling authority.
Freedom #7. Freedom of information. Aren’t you getting a little tired of every administration promising us transparency and giving us opacity instead? Why is it that the people running our government (including those in the executive, legislative and judicial) love to do things behind curtains, in the wee hours of the morning and via thousand-page bills that no one can read or comprehend?
Freedom #8. Freedom from onerous debt placed on us by an out-of-control government. If we can’t pay our own way how can it be right for us to burden our children and grandchildren?
Freedom #9. Freedom to fail or succeed. It is not the purpose of government to assure every person a minimal level of “success”. That concept will create life for all on a very low common denominator and stifle human achievement. We must be left alone to fail or succeed on our own. We should be called to greatness – not mediocrity.
Freedom #10. Freedom of life – to be born and to die naturally. In some ways you could argue that this should be Freedom #1. After all, if someone or some group of bureaucrats begin to tell citizens who can be born and who should die the rest of the freedoms are irrelevant. Most of us are so darn busy just trying to eek out a living that we barely notice the erosion of our liberties. This series of columns will call us to account for the protection and reinstatement of the Ten Freedoms. We must do it in honor of our brave forefathers and for the millions who have fought and died for the freedoms we now enjoy. We must also do it for those who will follow us – our children and grandchildren.
©2009 Ronald Ross
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