When Did Freedom Become An Orphan?

by Steve Chapman - September 7th, 2008 - Creators Syndicate

"We must, and we shall, set the tide running again in the cause of freedom. And this party, with its every action, every word, every breath, and every heartbeat, has but a single resolve, and that is freedom." — Barry Goldwater, accepting the 1964 Republican presidential nomination

[snip]

The Founding Fathers set out to protect "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," but Barack Obama has a different idea.

The "essence of America's promise," he declared in Denver, is "individual responsibility and mutual responsibility" — rather than, say, individual freedom and mutual respect for rights. The "promise of America," he said, is "the fundamental belief that I am my brother's keeper; I am my sister's keeper."

In reality, that fundamental belief is what you might call the promise of socialism. What has set this country apart since its inception is not the notion of obligations but the notion of rights.

Especially the right to freedom.

Part of the amazing enthusiasm for Sarah Palin is the fact that she lives freedom with her very existence. She understands the need to stop government spending our money to satisfy every private desire. She has lived this ideal, and practiced it in her actions as Mayor, Chairman of the petroleum trust and Governor . . . that not taking people's money as taxes is one essence of freedom.

However that alone is not the end of it. Without people standing up and becoming freedom warriors we will not assure freedom for our nation. The trite old saying, I do not agree with what you say but will defend to the death your right to say it, is the the essence of a freedom warrior. Because until you are willing to fight for the freedom of all, even when it is not how you would live, you are surrendering to collectivism and tyranny.

God granted us free will. Until we grant free will to others, and demand it for both ourselves and them, freedom is dead. Amazingly, the Republican Party is not committed to freedom any more. It is committed to a laundry list of issues that might have started with the defense of freedom at some point in the past. However freedom stopped being the essence of our party when people stopped understanding why Ronald Reagan, who disapproved of the gay lifestyle, aligned himself with the group which became the log cabin Republicans.

Didn't know that? Even the people who do usually try to hide it.

However they don't understand it. Until they do we are only marignally better than the Democrats at defending the true essence of America, FREEDOM!

Sarah Palin gives us hope that we can return to the glory of Republicans loving freedom and letting our principles and actions prove we mean it.