Happy Independence Day!

Happy Independence Day!

July 4, 2018 Off By Elaine Arias

unsplash-logoJohn Silliman

Freedom isn’t free.  And, you cannot be free without being responsible.  This message has been utterly lost on leftists for…well, for a very long time.

One of my biggest pet peeves is the social safety net – welfare, food stamps, WIC vouchers, Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security.  If they all went away, the Democrats would never win another election, because they are clearly using these programs to buy votes.

But the person that feeds you and bestows free, wholly unearned gifts onto you can take them away, if you’re unlucky.  If they don’t take them away, they can impose restrictions on your life as a condition of using those free benefits.  Right now, you can probably buy loads of junk food using food stamps, but that could change, and the government is well within its rights to restrict food stamp purchases to the basic essentials.

Wouldn’t you rather just buy your own food, with your own money?  Then you can eat whatever you want.

But leftists don’t like that, because they’d rather spend their money on frivolous stuff.  They also think that because they need certain things – food, shelter, clothing, medical care – that they have a right to it, and that it’s the government’s job to secure those rights.  Well, as Bill Whittle said a couple  of years ago, these things are commodities.  Someone has to sacrifice their own time and resources to bring these things into being and make them possible.

Being free does not mean you are, or even should, be free from the consequences of your actions.  That’s another thing the left doesn’t understand, and they are very hypocritical about it.  They think Sarah Sanders should be hounded and harassed for the rest of her life simply because she’s President Trump’s press secretary. Or, because, according to them, she “lies” for the Orange Hitler.  They never actually point out his lies or her lies, but they don’t like him, so he must be a liar, period.

They think that we should endure the consequences of our actions, but that they themselves do not, and that if they do end up dealing with the consequences of their actions, that’s “oppression” according to them.

Anyway, enough of that.  I can expand upon this in another entry, this relationship between freedom and responsibility.  I want to talk about how grateful I am to be an American.  Despite my surname, I was indeed born here.  I was born in California, and I’ll be going back there for a family occasion later this month.  The miserable state of California is also fodder for a whole other post.

We Americans are very lucky and fortunate in many respects.  Not that we don’t have our own problems (and boy do I have a LOT of problems right now), but we’re very fortunate.  I can pretty much work where I want.  I can wear what I want.  I can marry whoever I want.  I can say what I want, listen to what I want, read what I want, watch what I want.  I can buy what I want (well, almost…the idea that any guns are banned is just total bullcrap to me).  I can (mostly) associate with whoever I want and do business with whoever I want.  I can also have as many children as my body can handle.  And I can go to school and get a college degree (which I’ve already done).

We women are very lucky.  The US, and other Western nations are among the best places to be if you’re a woman.  It irritates me that feminists constantly whine about stupid shit, like being called a slut or whatever.  Look, if you do something in public, people have the right to say something about it.  You, in turn, have the right to “clap back” or whatever they’re calling it.  That’s the beauty of the First Amendment – the give and take of ideas and such.  Leftists don’t want it that way, though.  Leftists don’t like free speech anymore because eeeeevil “racists” are allowed to spread their evil evilness around and call it free speech.  They want to censor anything they don’t like.

Like the situation with Tommy Robinson.  The courts didn’t like him reporting about the rape gang trials, because his reporting might “taint” the jury and the vile rapists might actually be held accountable for what they’ve done.  So they banned him from reporting outside the courthouse.  He did it anyway, and that was why he was arrested (he’s apparently done this before).

This law, rule, whatever you want to call it is unjust.  But he took his punishment like a man, and unfortunately was sent to a prison with a high Muslim gang population.  He is in solitary confinement, however, for his own safety.  Of course, they didn’t have to send him to that prison anyway, but they’re keeping him around until they feel like letting those Musloids have at it.  It is very worrying.

His situation is one of the zillions of reasons why I’m so grateful to be an American.  I don’t like saying I’m “proud” because pride is a sin, and it’s a sin for good reason.  Not that I have a problem with anyone stating that they’re proud to be an American.  Go for it.  Don’t mind me.  But I feel so strongly about being an American that being “proud” doesn’t adequately describe my feelings.  I’m not wearing anything on my head, save for my glasses and my pink Beats headphones as I listen to Dragonette’s “Darth Vader”.  Thank God.

The only reason why my life is such a mess right now is because of the stupid decisions I’ve made.  Me.  My fault, and no one else’s.  But I can fix those problems, because that’s one of the wonderful things about this country.  The boundless opportunities.

Anyway, God Bless America and all those who live here.