 Take freedom for instance. Freedom is something that seems "built-in" to the
human mind and psychic mentality. People everywhere long for freedom;
America has been a nation of freedom that was spawned by the yearning of
those who wanted to shed the yoke of bondage and fly independently with
"unalienable Rights" that were "endowed by their Creator." That yearning for
freedom produced the now famous words, "We The People of the United States,
in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic
Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare,
and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do
ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
But freedom is elusive when it is placed outside of the realm of God's
Providence. We have experienced that throughout the world history. We have
stories and accounts of despots from every culture from the beginning of
recollection. Powerful men and women have decided to take what they want and
reduce those around them into subjugation as servants or slaves only with
the rights of conquered people. Wave after wave of civilizations have risen
and fallen under the crushing blows of those whose perceptions of themselves
gave them egos to squash those around them and rise up their armies and
fulfill their own personal dreams to the detriment of those who opposed
their venture. One only need open a U.S. history book to list out the
attempts of tyrants who have tried to crush our freedom.
Even in our current news cycle we are coming face-to-face with radical
forces of terror who are killing everything in their path in order to obtain
their goals. We are witnessing day-by-day the foibles of ISIS or ISIL who
are on the march to establish and maintain their caliphate to serve as a
base of operations to carry out beheadings, homicidal bombings in
transportation conveyances, using planes as destructive instruments of death
against those who live in freedom and disrupt the ebb and flow of life in a
nation that practices freedom. We see at the same time the evil forces of
Hamas in the Gaza firing missiles into civilian settlements and
neighborhoods trying to exterminate an entire ethnic class from the Human
Race. Boko Haram, a militant Islamist movement based in Northern Africa has
kidnapped or killed thousands in Nigeria and Chad. That group is moving like
ISIS or ISIL to establish an Islamic state in that region.
Wars with kidnapping, decapitating, raping and killing are not the only
means to take freedom from people. This is especially true for societies
that have anchored their government in the ideas of freedom and liberty in a
Republic or Democracy like America and Israel. The arguments and bitter
fights ensue quickly between those who ascribe to different methods of
keeping liberty once they have attained it. Check out the media for instance
and the political structures in most democratic nations. A cursory review of
the political persuasions will almost immediately expose a contrast in
ideology generally crystallized in a polarization of radical positions on
either side of the conservative/liberal beliefs. As the ethnocentric groups
form around any idea, the arguments begin that leads to the fight for power
and prominence in establishing the models of attainment of freedom and
liberty.
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 As each group's ideas are challenged the arguments begin. We see
that clearly between our own Democrats and Republicans. Now the Tea
Party and Libertarians also add to the continuum of ideology that
creates friction that tears apart freedom and liberty. Within each
group there is a continuum that moves from right to left with right
being more conservative, while left generally means more liberal.
The "raw meat" for the arguments and battles are the ideas of "how
to remain free." Some of those "raw meat" articles of arguments
include such things as regulations; more or less. The rights of gun
ownership; limited government versus pervasive, larger more
controlling government, minimal taxation or higher and higher
margins of taxation. The list goes on to such things as personal
responsibility, balanced budget, moral absolutes, States' Rights,
Constitutional interpretations, foreign relations, military
draw-down and of course, protecting the U.S. borders.
Each of those arguments within the context of our ever-present ideas
of "secular freedom" are elucidated each and every day; played out
by the political pundits, talking heads, politicians, educators, and
regular citizens with opinions. Debate and discourse are lively,
sometimes spontaneous and occasionally, caustic. In all of these
issues the conservative takes one point of view, while the liberal
takes the other point of view. In a spirit of compromise sometimes,
the two will come together in some form of synthesis that makes its
way into the common thought.
The thing we must remember is we are always talking about freedom
and liberty. Everyone has a point of view with an ideology that will
eventually end in conquest. We either win the debate or we don't. We
preserve freedom and liberty, or we don't. ISIS or ISIL, Hamas, or
Boko Haram each have an ideology that conforms to their goal for
conquest and rule, but in the end it is opposed to the thinking and
ideology of the Western mind. Believe it or not, their ideology has
permeated our own society and we are watching them operationalize
their ideology into actions. If we don't start rejecting their
movement while it is still manageable, we will suffer the
consequences of their actions. From that perspective their freedom
and liberty by their definition and implementation will become the
opposite for us as we take our place as their conquered people.
[By JIM KILLEBREW]
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