LET FREEDOM RING

My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing."

Those words, penned by Samuel F. Smith, have been put to music, the most well known tune of which is "America," also known as "My Country, 'Tis of Thee."

The dictionary defines "freedom" as: the condition of being free; the power to act or speak or think without externally imposed restraints.

That's pretty good, but it lacks much emotion or purpose.

Not all nations or people have valued freedom. Over the centuries there have always been those who wanted to "be in charge" of the goings and comings of the populace.

Some have been dictators, some kings. Some have been emperors, some despots.

Great Britain, France, Spain and many others have tried, or are trying, their hand at monarchy, as have many Middle Eastern countries.

Japan, France, Italy and a myriad of others have had emperors whose prime purpose was to control the people and enlarge their borders.

Dictators control North Korea, China, Cuba and at least 67 other countries.

In their heart of hearts, though, people have a built in (God given) desire to be able to conduct daily living unencumbered by excessive restraint.

Thus was born an idea in the minds of a small group of church members referred to as "separatists," also known as Pilgrims, who were being persecuted by the Church of England, and chose to move to Holland, where they were initially tolerated.

After a decade in Leiden, the low wages, the danger of renewed war with Spain, and concern for their children's future led them to seek another solution.

That solution was to set sail for the New World, where it was their hope to set up a colony unhindered in their ability to worship as they pleased.

In 1802, John Quincy Adams wrote of the Pilgrims:

"When the persecuted companions of Robinson, exiles from their native land, anxiously sued for the privilege of removing a thousand leagues more distant to an untried soil, a rigorous climate and a savage wilderness, for the sake of reconciling their sense of religious duty with their affections for their country, few, perhaps none of them formed a conception of what would be within two centuries the result of their undertaking. When the jealous and niggardly policy of their British sovereign denied them even that humblest of requests, and instead of liberty would barely consent to promise connivance, neither he nor they might be aware that they were laying the foundations of a power, and that he was sowing the seeds of a spirit, which in less than two hundred years would stagger the throne of his descendants, and shake his united kingdoms to the centre."

In his Gettysberg Address, Abraham Lincoln proclaimed:

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."

And:

"...that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

The United States of America has been called "the great experiment," for no nation had ever before been founded on the principle that the government is the servant of the people.

It was the hope of the founders to establish a system that allowed people to live their lives as they pleased, free from the encumbrances of any group that forced them to believe or behave according to a national standard.

They could form their own communities, cities, counties or parishes at their will, each of which was free to make whatever laws and ordinances they wished.

If a group desired to do so, they could apply for and receive "statehood," as to date, fifty have. (Some say "57," but that is not correct).

The right of these localized entities to enact their own laws apart from a strong central government has been the most difficult part of this great experiment.

Over the centuries, there has been a tendency for the federal government to exercise more and more control over the affairs of the state and local communities.

For instance, at one time schools were public, and operated under the control of local boards.

Today, because they have allowed the federal government to allocate money to the states and districts, schools have become wards of Washington D.C., and are more properly called "government schools."

Little-by-little the people of the United States have given control of their lives over to the centralized federal government, whose members are all too happy to accept.

Today, the federal government stands ready to tell you where you can't go, how you will be educated, where you can and cannot smoke, how loud you can have your music, how cool you can keep your house, what kind of car you can drive, to what medical treatment you may be afforded, what you can and cannot say, where and how you can worship, and so many other things as to be innumerable here.

Today we have freedom of speech, as long as it is vulgar and base, and as long as it does not include Christian speech, which must be tempered with Political Correctness and confined within church walls.

Today we have freedom of the press, which includes TV and radio, as long as those media conform to federalized standards.

Today we have freedom of assembly, as long as we don't assemble near an abortion mill or in the wrong neighborhood (as designated by the federal government).

Today we have the freedom to petition the government for a redress of grievances, but not if we stand in one of government's hallowed halls. And the government is doing what it can, as fast as it can, to overcome that freedom.

For the most part, the populace has raised no objection.

As long as they can get up in the morning and do what they want to do, whether or not it involves "work," and are taken care of, all is well.

Only they don't realize how quickly those basic daily freedoms are being eroded.

At some point, all of the blood shed to ensure our freedom(s) will have come to naught.

There is coming a day, and it is closer than many think, when absolute control over your life will be the norm, and the United States of America will no longer be a nation of free people, but will become a kingdom, empire, or dictatorship.

There is a remnant, however, that cries out:

"My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died; land of the Pilgrims pride
From every mountain side, let freedom ring.

My native country, thee, Land of the noble free, thy name I love;
I love thy rocks and rills, thy woods and templed hills;
My heart with rapture thrills, like that above.

Let music swell the breeze, and ring from all the trees sweet freedom's song;
Let mortal tongues awake; let all that breathe partake; let rocks their silence break, the sound prolong.

Our fathers' God, to thee, author of liberty, to thee we sing;
Long may our land be bright with freedom's holy light; protect us by thy might, great God, our King."