Freedom of Speech is a Righteous Liberty

Freedom of Speech is a righteous liberty that we’re afforded as Americans … and I wholeheartedly endorse every liberty that comes to us by virtue of our Bill of Rights! Notwithstanding these rights & privileges we often take for granted, I’d like to know just when we lost sight of our collective dignity & respect for our fellow citizens as we now turn our communal heads to the hedonistic voyeurism and salacious interests that the media seems to “sell” these days to John Q. Citizen and which, in turn, fuels their frenzy to report it … ad nauseum.

Case in point … the Anthony Weiner debacle! For many of us it’s true that Rep. Weiner exercised bad judgment when he decided to lie to the public to such a degree about his Social Networking behavior that it warranted his resignation. But, there also remain a significant number of other “average Joes” who don’t think that lying to the voting public is sufficient grounds to lose one’s trust in an elected official to such a degree that calls for one’s resignation. Have we, as citizens, become so calloused by our notorious past that we’re willing to accept this kind of behavior as “the norm” from our governing officials? And if, in fact, we’re willing to accept it, aren’t we also, by default, endorsing the act of lying to some degree? So I ask you … why do we teach our children to “tell the truth”?

I’m not alone in this way of thinking … If one decides to run for elected office, one must realize that they will be held to a higher standard and, yes, that’s fair, in my opinion. If our elected officials represent “us”, I’d like them to avoid representing “us” as liars. I expect no less from my elected officials than I expect of myself. If I do something wrong, it’s far more honorable of me to admit the error of my ways, even if “fessing up” is the path of greater resistance. In the long run, my mistakes teach me rather than come back to haunt me when they return to try and rear their ugly heads.

Having travelled to other countries, I can attest to the fact that, as a collective, Americans are viewed by many people outside the United States as the liars, cheats, and hypocrites of the world. I don’t know about you but that doesn’t feel good to me; and by publicly advertising our acceptance or by publicly discounting these bad behaviors from our elected officials, we simply perpetuate this bad image of ourselves! We ARE our own worst enemy in this matter!!!

Many say this but I truly am proud to be a cradle-American! Because of that, I also believe the best way to appreciate what we have here is to live, yet only for a brief moment, in a land that doesn’t offer to its citizens what we take for granted in the United States. Perhaps if more of us did that, our progeny would benefit in a good way from our national pride as we did from our parents, the greater generation of Americans.