Freedom

[Stinky The Clown]

'We're spreading freedom' they tell us.

'Freedom is on the march' they tell us.

'A free and democratic Iraq' they tell us.

'They hate us for our freedom' they tell us.

And so many more equally meaningless jingoistic statements that some people just lap up like mind candy.

But what is freedom? Not the strict dictionary definition, but the practical meaning?

For example, Singapore is a dictatorship. Not an oppressive totalitarian country, but a dictatorship nonetheless. Its citizens are free to leave whenever they choose, But if they choose to live there and remain citizens, then they agree to abide by the dictator's ... well ... dictates.

Lebanon's citizens voted in free elections. They freely chose their government. Some of them exercised that freedom to put members of Hezbollah in office. Similarly, the freedom granted to the Palestinians by Israel resulted in the election of a Hamas government.

Here in the United States we have a long tradition of freedom. And we freely gave our votes to George W Bush in a mandate that allowed him to have a great deal of political capital to spend on his programs and on the implementation of his world view. Its true that many of us were cheated out of our votes, and it is true that many of us were intimidated in a way that caused us not to vote and its true that when the initial vote count didn't go George Bush's way, he had his father's appointees change the rules and allow him to take the throne. But we're free ..... they tell us.

What is freedom ....... in the place we call Bizarro World?

[Totally Committed]

1. We have one basic "freedom" under Bush...

We are free to do EXACTLY as he says and follow the laws EXACTLY as he sees 'em.

We are definitely spreading our "freedom" to the rest of the world, under that definition.

TC