Category Archives: Freedom

On Nov. 3, a deeply consequential election is being held in the United States of America. In many states, early voting is well underway. I urge everyone reading this column to exercise your right to vote and to do so with a fully-formed conscience and in a morally coherent manner.

Catholics too often succumb to what the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council warned of in the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et Spes). They wrote: This split between the faith which many profess, and their daily lives deserves to be counted among the more serious errors of our age (43).

Faith and life must come together for Catholics. The full deposit of faith must be guarded, and it must inform every area of our life. That includes our voting. This overriding insight was elaborated upon in 2002 by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in its excellent teaching on the Participations of Catholics in Political Life:

We need to vote, as Catholic citizens, in a manner that is morally coherent. I will now share with you three essential areas that every Catholic, indeed every faithful Christian, should keep foremost in their mind as they vote.

The Preeminent Moral Mandate: The Right to Life

The most important foundational teaching and principle of Catholic social teaching is that every human life is sacred from conception to natural death, because every man and woman is created in the image of God. Further, there is a fundamental right to life, which is confirmed in the natural moral law, the Sacred Scripture, and the unbroken Tradition of the Catholic Church. Every civil law must respect that fundamental human right to life, or such a law is an unjust law.

Every human person is created in the image of God. Because of that, they have an inherent dignity at every age and stage of their lives. This truth is what informs our respect for every human life, whether that life is found in the first home of the womb, a wheelchair, a jail cell, a hospital room, a hospice, a senior center, a soup kitchen or on a refugee boat. And, in future installments, we will touch on many of these matters.

However, the right to life position is, in one sense, not about an issue at all. Nor are those who hold it single issue voters. It is the Preeminent Moral Mandate. The pro-life position is also a worldview, a lens through which we should view every political, cultural, social and economic issue. It should inform every aspect of our participation in society especially the exercise of our citizenship.

The right to life is the foundation for every human right. The language often used in the political discussion surrounding legal abortion reveals an Orwellian newspeak which is polluting our public discourse. We should never use phrases such as abortion rights. Abortions do not have rights; only human persons have rights. The first right is the right to life.

Every procured abortion is the taking of innocent human life and is always and everywhere intrinsically immoral. Without the right to life, there are no other rights, and the infrastructure of rights is thrown into jeopardy. Human rights are goods of human persons. When there is no human person to exercise them, all the rhetoric extolling them is nothing but empty air and sloganeering.

Every procured abortion is intrinsically immoral, always and everywhere wrong. Thus, our absolute opposition to legalized abortion must be the preeminent issue in casting our vote. Any candidate or political party that promotes abortion is precluded from any further consideration for a Catholic voter.

That individual or party may embrace other policies that seem supportive of other related issues arising out of our respect for the sanctity of life, but if their stance is that abortion is ever acceptable and should be promoted, any other positive life values become moot. If one promotes the idea that an unborn person has no right to life, then what other right is of any consequence? That persons life has been terminated.

I urge the faithful to realize that anyone who directly promotes abortion is not acceptable for leadership in our society. I realize that eliminates a vast number of potential leaders from our consideration as faithful Catholics, but we must hold firm and do all we can to only support political leaders who respect and protect the fundamental right to life of the unborn. And, they must listen to our voice.

The Right to Religious Freedom

In his World Peace Day message for 1988, Pope St. John Paul II said:

This emphasis on religious freedom ran throughout the late popes teaching magisterium. It was demonstrated early in his service to the Church, for example, then-Bishop Karol Wojtylas actions at the Second Vatican Council. He made five interventions during the discussions that helped to formulate the final Declaration on Religious Freedom (Dignitatis Humanae), which was promulgated by Pope St. Paul VI on Dec. 7, 1965.

This is all in keeping with his rich understanding of the essential connection between truth and freedom as discussed throughout The Splendor of Truth (Veritatis Splendor) where John Paul warns of the death of true freedom (40). It is also addressed repeatedly in The Gospel of Life (Evangelium Vitae) where he writes of freedoms essential link with truth and inherently relational dimension (19).

In his encyclical letter on Faith and Reason (Fides et ratio), he wrote:

As the Second Vatican Council affirmed:

The candidates stand on religious freedom must be paramount in our choices in the ballot box. The persecution of faithful Christians, across the confessional spectrum, is obvious to anyone who cares about religious freedom. It is getting worse. The growing hostility toward the symbols of our religious heritage, the mocking of the values informed by religious faith and the overt and open hostility toward people of faith and religious institutions is increasing. It must be exposed and opposed.

Vote for Candidates who Respect Marriage and the Family

Next, let us turn to the urgent challenge of defending the first and most vital cell of society, marriage, and the family and social order founded upon it.

In a 2016 interview, Cardinal Carlo Caffarra disclosed a letter he had received years earlier from Sister Lucia, then the last surviving visionary of the apparitions of Our Lady at Fatima. Cardinal Caffarra wrote:

Pope St. John Paul II, the Pope of the Family, wrote and spoke repeatedly about the attacks on marriage and the family. He also affirmed their essential and unchangeable nature. Those attacks on marriage and the family have now reached a fever pitch. This is evident particularly in the West, where marriage has been redefined to a point where it is no longer even discernible. And, those who stand in defense of marriage and the family are increasingly being disparaged and confronted with soft persecution.

The attack on marriage and the family rages all around us. It is a part of a broader cultural struggle a clash of worldviews personal and corporate and competing definitions of human freedom, human dignity and the path to true happiness and human flourishing. We are involved in a contest over the foundations of what constitutes a truly human and just social order.

As Catholic Christians, we must insist that marriage between one man and one woman, intended for life, open to life and the family and social order founded upon it has been inscribed by the Divine Architect into the order of the universe. That is because they have. Truth does not change. People and cultures do sometimes for good and sometimes for bad.

As for the position of the Catholic Church on marriage, it is crystal clear. Marriage between one man and one woman indissoluble, unitive and always open to procreation forms the foundation for the family, and the family forms the foundation of both the Church and the civil society. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith of the Catholic Church explained it well in 2003:

Marriage and Family as Gods Loving Plan

Faithful Catholics and other Christians should vote only for men and women who will respect and protect marriage and the family. For the Jewish and Christian believer, from the first chapter of the first book of the Bible, the Book of Genesis (which means beginning) we discover the loving plan of God for marriage revealed in the context of the creation account. God fashioned man in his own image saying, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness (Genesis 1:26).

The early Fathers of the Christian Church noted that the plural language in the creation account points to the Trinitarian nature of God. Though God is One, the Christian faith proclaims that God is a loving Trinity of persons in the perfect unity of perfect love. The Father, Son and Spirit are a gift to one another. The Oneness of God is not solitary, but rather the perfection of Divine Love, being given away to the other, in the reciprocity of the Trinitarian communion.

In the second chapter of Genesis we read, It is not good for man to be alone (Genesis 2:18). The two, male and female, coming together in marriage to become one, reflects this unity in communion. We are, by both nature and grace, social. The mutual expression of love, as gift to the other, lived within marriage, opens the married couple to participation in Gods loving plan. If marriage is embraced as a Christian vocation, it also leads them to holiness, includes them in the gift of creation through procreation, and draws them into a partnership of love which births a family.

Marriage is intended to be a lifelong, indissoluble union of the spouses, male and female, always open to life and formative of family. Family, based on marriage between one man and one woman, is not only the first and most vital cell of society it is the first school, first church, first hospital, first economy, first government and first mediating institution.

Marriage is the Future

Our convictions and claims concerning the nature and ends of marriage are not outdated notions of a past era but provide the path to building a strong future for society. Nor is our position defending marriage as solely possible between one man and one woman simply a religious position. There is a natural moral law which can be known by all men and women through the exercise of reason.

Marriage is not unique to Christianity; it is revealed by that natural moral law as a good for all of humanity. It has been so recognized across cultures for millennia. That natural moral law is the ground upon which every great civilization has been built. It is the source for every great and authentic human and civil rights movement. The natural moral law gives us the moral norms we need to build truly human and just societies and govern ourselves. It should inform our positive or civil law, or we will become lawless and devolve into anarchy.

Civil institutions do not create marriage. Neither can they create some new right to marry for those whose relationships are incapable of achieving the ends of marriage. Government has long regulated marriage for the common good. For example, the ban on polygamy. And age requirements were enforced to ensure that there was a mature decision as the basis of the marriage contract.

Marriage is the first society into which children are to be born, learn to be fully human, grow in virtue, flourish, and take their proper role in families and communities. We must not be afraid to make the claim that children have a right to a mother and a father. They do. Of course, we should also care about the single parent family and the many broken homes which characterize this age.

However, their existence does not change the norm necessary for building a stable and healthy society two-parent, marriage-bound families. Intact marriages and families are the glue of a healthy and happy social order. Faithful Catholics and other Christians must become a visible, palpable reflection of this truth about marriage and family in our own lives. To live a faithful marriage is now countercultural.

Male and Female

In the creation account found in the First Chapter of the Book of Genesis we also read these vitally important words: God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them (Genesis 1:27). Our sexual difference as male and female is a gift and a given. To reject the gift is to reject the Giver.

We do not choose to be male or female. We receive it as a gift, or we reject it. The notion that we can choose our sexual identification as male or female is but one more manifestation of the rebellion that started in the garden with Adam and Eve when they turned away from Gods loving plan.

When our first parents succumbed to the lie that they could determine for themselves what is good and what is evil, the separation from God began. In theological terms, we call that sin. It is both an offense against Gods loving plan and a wrong exercise of human freedom. Only a Savior could bridge that separation. Thank God that he sent one. His name is Jesus the Christ.

In his defense of marriage, Jesus referred to this Genesis account in insisting on the indissolubility of marriage:

To reject sexual difference is to reject Gods gift. Difference is not inequality of worth. Rather, it enables the gift of self to the other and a reciprocity, an exchange, which elevates us all. Vote as though life, religious freedom, marriage and the family depend upon it because they do.

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Vote as Though Life, Religious Freedom, Marriage and the Family Depend Upon It - National Catholic Register

More people will be coming together for worship, in hospitality venues and outside at gatherings in NSW this weekend following an easing of coronavirus restrictions.

However, with severe thunderstorms and rainfall forecast throughout much of the state, the larger outdoor gatherings may hold off for another week.

As NSW recorded no new locally-acquired cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm on Thursday, on Friday the state government eased some restrictions.

Thirty people are now allowed to gather outdoors, group bookings at hospitality venues have been extended from 10 to 30 people, and up to 300 are allowed at places of worship.

Political protesters can also gather en masse with up to 500 people allowed to link-up outdoors as long as it remains COVID-19 safe.

NSW Health in a statement on Friday again pleaded for the residents to keep coming forward for testing if they experience even mild respiratory symptoms.

COVID-19 is still likely circulating in the community and we must all be vigilant, NSW Health said.

It comes after Premier Gladys Berejiklian urged more people to wear masks on public transport.

Originally posted here:

More COVID freedom in NSW this weekend - 7NEWS.com.au

Provided by The Independent

Somewhere in Shenzhen, Andy Li is in a cell. Along with 11 others, Li has been there since 23 August. Intercepted by the Chinese coastguard, this group has been denied contact with their families, access to their chosen legal representatives, and medical treatments. The youngest is just 17 years old.

These young people are pro-democracy activists from Hong Kong. A movement that resurfaced in March last year and, despite its commitment to protesting peacefully, has been met with escalating violence and repression from the government and police. Most recently, this has included the introduction of sweeping National Security Laws, draconian regulations which prohibit any action or speech against the Hong Kong government by any individual, anywhere in the world. It is these laws that the 12 were fleeing, and under which Andy Li had already been arrested earlier in the year.

Today protesters will gather in London to show solidarity with these imprisoned young people. They will be joining the global outcry against the arrests, the authorities treatment of the detainees and their refusal to return them to Hong Kong where they would, hopefully, face a fairer trial rather than in China where the conviction rate in the criminal justice system is an ominous 99.9 per cent. These young people now face an unknown future and life-changing consequences, just for standing up for their rights.

This case exemplifies the sacrifices that the youth of Hong Kong are making to fight for their freedom. The protest movement has been driven by young people since its inception. A new generation of Hongkongers who are at least as determined as their predecessors to hold onto their fundamental freedoms, rather than sliding into totalitarianism.

Saturdays protest in London is just one part of the wider fight for freedom in Hong Kong. For 18 months now, Hong Kongs citizens have been taking to the streets. What started as a protest against extradition to mainland China, has turned into an ideological battle for the citys soul. On the one side is the Chinese Communist Party, Hong Kongs Beijing-backed official administration, and an increasingly aggressive police force. On the other side are tens of thousands of ordinary Hongkongers from different walks of life, united by the belief that their home is more than just an extension of China and that they deserve the basic human rights that we take for granted.

Hong Kong protester known as Grandma Wong who disappeared says she was held in mainland China

Click to expand

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So far, the cause of the detained activists has been primarily picked up by their families and other pro-democracy protesters like the inspirational Grandma Wong. The APPG on Hong Kong of which we are proud to be officers also supports the protestors but this isnt enough. The bravery of these Hongkongers must be supported by coordinated international action.

Any government which claims to support democracy must impose Magnitsky-style sanctions on senior Hong Kong officials. This will send a clear message that the world is watching, and that Hong Kong cannot abuse its citizens rights without consequences. But for the British government there is a particular responsibility as Andy Li and four of the other youths are British National (Overseas) passport holders. The UK is also duty bound by the Sino-British Joint Declaration, a UN recognised treaty in which China pledged to uphold certain freedoms in Hong Kong upon its return from Britain in 1984.

Britain cannot abandon its responsibility to these brave young people. They are already paying a high price for standing up for values that we take for granted. The very least we can do is show them that they are not alone.

As British MPs, we call upon foreign secretary Dominic Raab to act decisively and impose sanctions against the key authority figures responsible for the brutal oppression in Hong Kong. As the young people of Hong Kong have shown, we are stronger united. We must stand together for freedom and against authoritarian rule, before its too late.

Alistair Carmichael is a Liberal Democrat MP for Orkney and Shetland and Sarah Champion is a Labour MP for Rotherham

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Britain has a responsibility to the freedom fighters imprisoned by the Chinese government - MSN UK

Smoking is a difficult habit to break any time, but it can be even more difficult during times of additional stress. With the COVID-19 pandemic and the holiday season, many people are facing stressful situations and triggers at every turn.

To help local community members and people across Michigan break this habit, MidMichigan Health is hosting the American Lung Associations Freedom From Smoking program a free, eight-week program that is led by a certified American Association facilitator. The sessions will be conducted virtually from 5:30 to 7 p.m., on Thursdaysvia GoToMeeting, and will take place Oct. 29-Dec. 17.

While this program has not been offered by MidMichigan Health Mt. Pleasant before, it has been successfully offered in other regions of the health system. MidMichigan Health Mt. Pleasant has offered other tobacco cessation programs in the past, though.

We are seeing much more registration with this virtual format, so were excited to see that level of participation with this program, says Ashley Brenner, community health specialist for MidMichigan Medical Centers - Gratiot, Mt. Pleasant, and Clare.

Brenner says around 20% of adults in Isabella County are smokers, which is about the state average; however, Isabella County does have a higher rate of babies born to mothers who smoke during pregnancy.

In Isabella County, its about 22% and the state average is 15%, she says. So, this is an option for those women to take to quit smoking through their pregnancy and beyond.

Pregnant women who smoke and have a partner or spouse who also smokes can take this class together.

People who take the class will learn about replacements for nicotine, make a quit plan, identify their individual triggers, hear from a panel of former smokers, and much more. Erica Phillips, community health specialist for MidMichigan Medical Center Alpena, says what makes this program special is that it is designed to help people as individuals and to let each individual person tailor it in a way that will most benefit them.

The Freedom From Smoking model is unique in that no single quit smoking plan is effective for every person. This model brings in behavior change. It has a systematic approach that assists any type of person in their own way, Phillips says.

Registration for the Freedom From Smoking program can be completed at http://www.midmichigan.org/freedomfromsmoking until Friday, Oct. 23 and is open to anyone over the age of 18. Those who need assistance with registration may call MidMichigan Health Line toll-free at (800) 999-3199. All program materials and login information will be mailed to registrants prior to the first meeting. Participants will join the GoToMeeting from their smartphones, computer, tablet, or other device with an internet connection.

Monitoring your health is always important, and if you are or have been a smoker there are some additional health risks to be aware of. If you are a smoker or have been a smoker in the past, you are encouraged to complete a Lung Health Assessment in order to assess your risk for lung cancer.

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MidMichigan Health to host free virtual Freedom From Smoking program - Concentrate

(The Center Square) According to a report from a center-right organization The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), Gov. Gretchen Whitmer earned a fifth-to-last ranking among all 50 governors in the United States.

The 2020 Laffer-ALEC report on Economic Freedom ranks all 50 governors by results and policy.

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ALEC ranks Gov. Whitmer near bottom of economic freedom report - Grand Haven Tribune

Clark County community members describe how an American ideal has been challenged, changed, confirmed

In this most unusual of years, Independence Day is different, too.

Wrapped in red, white and blue bunting, the holiday commemorates the signing of the Declaration of Independence. But 2020 has tested the concepts of freedom and responsibility like no other recent year. These themes play through the stories of both the coronavirus pandemic and the struggle against systemic racism.

We reached out to a group of community members and asked them what freedom means to them, and how their perceptions have been challenged, changed or confirmed.

What does freedom mean to you at this unique moment in history?

Craig Brown, Columbian editor

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Alisha Jucevic/The Columbian files

Co-director and producer of the documentary filmBuffalo Soldiers of the Pacific Northwest

Freedom for me is being able to go for a jog in the morning, or take my daughters for a walk, or drive to the store without worrying about being targeted by some cop or racist who doesnt know me or cant identify with me because were different.

Freedom is all about having the right to be different.

As a Black man living in a rural part of Clark County, I drive past a confederate flag every day and Im reminded of that lack of appreciation of my freedom.

Is freedom the fear of living in the shadow of someones hate? Is freedom feeling persecuted by those who cling to a past that held people who look like me as slaves? Is freedom the feeling that police target my skin color? Is freedom a president who says white supremacists are good people too? America was founded on a lie that all men are created equal.

More than any other race it has been Black people who have struggled to turn that lie into truth, although our country is pretty far from it right now. People who dont have freedom fight the hardest for it.

Still, I have hope that if we got to know our neighbors who are different from ourselves we would see them as a human beings first.

While my culture and dress may be different than yours, Im a father, a husband and a person.

But you should know that my Independence Day is Juneteenth.

Enlarge

Alisha Jucevic/The Columbian files

Homeless advocate and peer housing support at CVAB (Community Voices Are Born)

As a child, I learned that America was the freest place on Earth. Anyone could be whatever they wanted, and opportunities were limitless if I put in the effort. I learned that our freedoms of speech, religion and so forth applied to everyone.

As a young adult, I was moved to tears reading Emma Lazarus poem The New Colossus while visiting the Statue of Liberty: Give me your tired, your poor/ Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free/ The wretched refuse of your teeming shore./ Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me .

I was proud of America. I felt fortunate to live in a place that valued and embodied traits like compassion, empathy and acceptance, and took care of its people while welcoming more in.

To be young again, right? Today, I dont see us taking care of our tired, poor and homeless. In fact, I watch unsheltered human beings be herded, like cattle, from one block to the next at the request of those with money, property, power or influence. Freedom seems to be enjoyed only by those able to pay for it. If someone must ask permission to do things needed to survive eat, sleep, use the restroom they are not free. Focusing on our own individual freedoms, autonomy and quality of life has made us angry, entitled, fearful, greedy, depressed and addicted. Weve caused our own suffering by not caring more for each other. We wont experience true freedom until the freedom of others doesnt threaten our own.

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Retired U.S. Army colonel, former Vancouver city councilorand Clark County First Citizen 2017

As a young boy I learned the meaning of our Fourth of July and the Declaration of Independence from my father, a career naval officer, and through participation in Cub Scouts.

Freedom for me, like many others in our country, is all about democracy, rights, liberty, opportunity and equality. More so, it is about the opportunity for prosperity and success, as well as upward mobility for the family and children, achieved through hard work and commitment. My father, a product of the Great Depression and World War II, stressed the importance that nothing is given to you; you have to work hard for success. As such, our country is among the freest nations on earth; our citizens enjoy tremendous liberty thanks to the way our government was set up by the founders. A democracy is a government in which the people are able to choose our leaders. I followed my father with a career in the U. S. Army.

The Declaration of Independence states that we are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, including the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. African Americans and women were not considered equal then. Our Constitution and amendments address equality and fairness but there is much to be done especially in our legal system to bring all America, especially African Americans, to a level playing field. I am hopeful.

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La Center resident and president of Clark County Citizens United

Because I grew up in a military family, I know the sacrifices countless men, women and their families make. Thank you to all who serve and have served to defend our freedoms in this complex nation we call home. God bless and protect all our active military and veterans!

Ideal freedom is having the ability to choose and to be responsible for the way one feels, acts, reacts and lives ones life. As Americans, we confirm our freedoms when we salute the flag, sing our anthem, cast a vote and join others in celebrating Americas birth, July 4, 1776. The Declaration of Independence defines us as free Americans with the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, with those rights secured by a government that derives its powers from the consent of the governed.

The Constitution embraces our spirit of ideal freedom. The First Amendment grants us the ability to express what we believe, on equal footing. Clark County Citizens United routinely exercises that right with every testimony submitted to the public record. County councilors recently had a packed hearing room full of peaceful equestrians voicing their concerns about infringements to their ideal freedoms.

Americans have shown we are willing to go to great lengths to defend our freedoms and express our beliefs. Our America is a work in progress and is always evolving toward a more ideal and perfect union.

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2020 Clark College graduate

The American ideal of freedom has to be dependent upon the opportunities that have been put in place to level the playing field so that each individual can rise to their full potential.

Since I came to the United States from Kenya in August 2018, I have grown intellectually and socially by making good use of the opportunities that I have had. Speaking of intellectual growth, the education system in the United States is world-class. I was amazed by Washingtons Running Start program that lets high school students take college courses toward an associate degree. That kind of opportunity does not exist in Kenya where I completed my high school education.

Although Im transferring to Washington State University, Clark College is home to me; I have built lasting friendships I will always cherish. While studying at Clark College, I had the honor of serving the students as the president of the student government. In this capacity, I had the privilege of meeting with honorable people who serve in politics and economic development.

Based on my experience, I would say that this is what the American ideal of freedom is like: You are given the opportunity to become who you want to be. And it does not stop there, life is like an onion, you peel each piece fresh and useful. Make good use of each piece and keep growing.

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Senior pastor, Love at the Cross Ministries in Washougal

I believe the ideal American freedom is when humanity is not judged by the color of our skin, but by our character.

American freedom is when people have the right to make choices, free of bias. When people have equal access to housing, food, education, employment, and health care rights granted based on a persons merit as a human and without judgment.

Does America achieve this now? No. However, I believe our country has started the journey to strive toward it.

The Black Lives Matter movement that was re-energized by the tragic death of George Floyd is sweeping our country and world. Black lives matter is really a message to humanity that equality improves all lives. An injustice for one is an injustice for all. Unity can fuel change. Love conquers hate. And respect for everyone resolves these issues.

I am so proud of my brothers and sisters who are peacefully demonstrating the message that all lives matter. Equality, justice, unity, love, and respect for all must be present today and must exist for all future generations.

When we reach this level of equality, justice, unity, love, and respect, we will have achieved freedom.

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Woodland resident and frequent Columbian letter writer

Our Founding Fathers chose an unsurpassed framework of government that is all about freedom.

Our free will is everything. Im not yet forced into an internment camp for practicing Christianity. I enjoy my First and Second Amendments along with We the people government.

Lately, however, anarchists are allowed to rule. Politicians, both left and right, just stand and watch these radicals destroy history, pillage and burn businesses.

We all have sin. But, to make this all work for the human race, we must possess forgiveness as well, and a little love.

I will always stand for my nations flag and forever kneel to God.

My thanks to all our military and law enforcement for standing in harms way that we can celebrate our independence from tyranny. I pray it is not our last.

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Clark County First Citizen 2020-21

The American ideal of freedom is being able to speak freely without persecution, being able to express yourself, live and love freely and without fear. But as a woman with brown skin, Im told I have to support certain movements. Im told I have to vote a certain way. But as an American, I know that I have the freedom to say what I want, believe what I choose, and vote for whomever and whatever I think is best.

Today were not doing a good job of fighting for or handing down the American ideal. In some ways it seems like freedom is losing these days. It may seem like freedom is being threatened in America, but in reality, freedom is on the move. The uprise of movements to call for a fundamental change in judicial, political and economic systems, the right to health care, safe affordable housing, clean air and water, self-expression and dignity demonstrate the American ideal of freedom.

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Vancouver Symphony Orchestra executive director

As I reflect on the idea of freedom, I am overwhelmed by gratitude for the opportunities that were bestowed upon me in my life. I was born in Ukraine, and have been fortunate enough to experience various cultures and customs while spending time in different parts of the world.

In these unprecedented, challenging times of great uncertainty, fear and anxiousness I cant help but think that the beautiful concepts that make up the American ideal of freedom liberty, equality, opportunity and human rights are now more relevant than ever before on a global scale. Wouldnt it be amazing if humans all over the globe could put aside their differences and work together to make the world a better place for everybody, regardless of geographical location, political affiliations or socioeconomic circumstances?

I had the privilege of witnessing firsthand the fall of the Iron Curtain, the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War. It was an incredible experience to see how people from all over the world came together to communicate and cooperate in spite of speaking different languages and having different backgrounds. As borders opened, a tremendously powerful force of creativity and collaboration was unleashed that allowed people to join forces in scientific, cultural and artistic endeavors.

It is my hope that in the aftermath of current tragic and challenging events we can all join our efforts and collectively find a path to a better and brighter future.

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Living legally married to her wife in downtown Vancouver

To me, in the midst of this disorienting moment in our nations history, freedom is to feel the relief and peace of not having to ask for freedoms others freely enjoy.

In 2012, my now wife and I knocked on doors and begged strangers to fill in a bubble on a mail-in ballot that would let us be legally married. It worked, and in 2013 we became a legal family in our state. Two years later, the Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act and in an instant we were legally married across the country. All because Edie Windsor took her case to the nations highest court to ask for equal treatment under federal law to request freedom.

Today, though, so many more people in my world are sincerely and earnestly asking the question: What do others in America have to ASK for, that I have always received? Is it safety to breathe? Opportunity to study or to work? Or grace to be afforded the benefit of the doubt? What am I taking for granted that others are still begging for?

And Im hopeful, because its going to take all of us who are free to thrive in America to recognize what that freedom feels like. To listen when Black and Brown and LGBTQ Americans are begging to live with dignity. For access to health care. For safe working conditions.

And then to fight, together, for those fundamental freedoms to be felt by all. Without asking.

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What does freedom mean to you? - The Columbian

Ronnie McBrayer, Keeping the Faith Published 12:00 a.m. ET July 4, 2020

Freedom: Its the quintessential American theme, celebrated coast to coast this Fourth of July weekend. A word always emphasized to be sure, but as a concept, freedom is not nearly as well understood or enjoyed. In fact, what we often call freedom is selfishness, a far cry from the ideal of independence or liberty.

One of the more severe warnings given in the New Testament by the Apostle Paul, centuries before Jefferson, Locke, or Hamilton, was this: Do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence. Paul knew that not everyone championing freedom was talking about the same thing.

He understood that if the claim to freedom became a privatized, individualistic, egocentric exercise in narcissism, the end result would only be biting, devouring, and destruction. The individual might win, but it would be at the expense of the greater community, and freedom would become something far less and unworthy of the name.

How tragically and accurately true Pauls warning rings today, two millennia later. We live in a society where demanding ones rights or vindication of ones agenda without regard for who those demands might hurt, is all the rage and I do mean rage. But thats not freedom. Its selfishness.

In a truly free society, each person must weigh the impact his or her actions will have on the community at large. If an action causes more misery than good, its not an act of freedom. And even if a person is free to take an action, and even if he or she might somehow benefit personally by that action, if it intentionally harms others, it is not a right. It is wrong.

Yes, freedom is your right to do what you think is right, but its not your right to harm others. Hurt yourself (if you choose), but not the community. As Paul added to his fierce warning: Use your freedom as an opportunity, through love, to serve one another. Where then does true freedom lead us? Ironically, back to servitude! We choose in freedom to either serve ourselves, or to serve our neighbors.

In the words of that radical Jacques Ellul: Christians are called to stand against every form of evil and oppression, to make people more aware, more free. Thus, we are liberated not for selfish reasons, but to live as servants to the world, to go everywhere bearing liberty.

That is always the choice put before any freedom loving community, and so long as service of the greater good prevails, that community will thrive. But when sacrificial, conciliatory service of others is replaced by stubborn, selfish, individualism then freedom is lost for all.

Liberty isnt about being an American, about democracy, or capitalism. Freedom is about choosing love. So, when you are released from the fear, greed, hate, resentment, and selfishness that keep your view of the world utterly shrunken, and you have nothing left but love to give for yourself, your neighbor, and your God then, and only then, are you free.

Ronnie McBrayer is a syndicated columnist, blogger, speaker, and author of multiple books. Visit his website at http://www.ronniemcbrayer.org.

Read or Share this story: https://www.detroitnews.com/story/life/2020/07/04/freedom-means-liberty-choose-love-over-hate/3278648001/

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Freedom means the liberty to choose love over hate - The Detroit News

It goes: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.

They carried on with the collective spirit when they wrote the Constitution 13 years later and began it with the phrase "We the people ..."

The colonists chose this as their number one gripe about King George III: "He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good."

Funny thing. We're talking about what's necessary for the public good today, too.

They also complained that local governors had to wait for the King's OK to pass certain laws, but then the King was neglectful of their needs. He got in the way of their attempts at self-rule. He obstructed justice.

He put standing armies within the people, made the military independent of civilian power. Things get gory after that, with plundered seas, ravaged coasts, burnt towns and destroyed lives.

That's the kind of freedom that was on display when President Donald Trump celebrated the Fourth of July at Mount Rushmore on Friday night.

At the same time, the fact that actual, meaningful freedom has been granted to Americans on a sliding scale is no longer in doubt.

Still, the fact that the Declaration was written by a slave owner and signed by other slave owners should not wreck its importance, even as we begin again to recontextualize it through 244 years of often painful growth.

We're going to remain divided on many things, for a long time yet, but if we could just all unite on wearing face masks for a while to get this pandemic under control, we can get through this.

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There is no 'I' in 'We the People' - CNN

This Fourth of July weekend, the United States is confronting unprecedented challenges.

A pandemic is raging. A reckoning on racism is boiling over. To mark this moment, Here & Now producers asked people across the country to define freedom and what it means to be American in 2020

Listening to them, it's both extremely hopeful and heartbreaking at the same time, hopeful because they're optimists, says historian and founding father expert Clay Jenkinson. They believe in the idea of America."

After listening to some of the interviews, he notes the immigrants who shared their thoughts have a greater commitment to the ideals of America compared to people who lived in the country their whole lives and take it for granted.

Many of the Americans who have been here for generations are disillusioned, jaded, cynical, feeling very angry and unsettled. I think this is one of the most important July Fourths of my lifetime, the 65-year-old says. We're at an inflection point and we need to really take this one seriously.

Bao Nguyen is a 36-year-old filmmaker living in Los Angeles, California.

This year, July 4th, it makes me think about what America is and what America can become and what America's promise is. My parents were Vietnamese war refugees who spent two weeks out at sea leaving Vietnam because they felt like they had no future in their former homeland. And I often think about them and their journey when I think about my own American journey in many ways, because without their journey, I wouldn't be here.

For me, America is so many things. It's not just the country. It's really this ever-evolving story. We continually help create what its identity is. And I think for the most part, freedom is a social contract. It's not something that's given. It's something that's earned in many ways, even in a place like America where people assume that it's given. We've earned our freedom through sacrifice, through bloodshed, through labor and toil of people who have been marginalized and underrepresented in all these communities today that are standing up. They have fought for this freedom and we continue to fight for this freedom. And I don't think we should take it for granted.

Lucie Hutchins is a mother, grandmother of three, wife and senior software engineer living in Down East Maine. Born and raised in Cameroon in West Africa, she came to the U.S. in 1997 and became a citizen in 2008.

As an American, I shall feel safe and protected within the American soil from any attack, military, terrorism or biological. In a country where freedom is the norm, I shall not fear to voice my opinion. My skin color, my religion or my sexual orientation should not predict what I can do, what I can achieve, or who I can become.

Living in America today is both shameful and hopeful. It is shameful to know that in a country with the biggest defense budget in the world, in a country with the best educational and research institutions, the mortality rate for COVID-19 is higher than it is in countries like South Korea. It is a shame that in a country where freedom is the norm, the likelihood of being mistreated, denied opportunities or even killed just because you are different is still high. Black Lives Matter is a wake-up call. I see the silent majority joining hands with the movement to demand change. I see hope.

Anthony Tamez-Pochel is a 21-year-old Cree, Lakota, Black activist living in Chicago. He serves as vice-chair of the Center for Native American Youth Advisory Board, co-president of Chi-Nations Youth Council and works for Chicagos 33rd Ward Alderman Rossana Rodriguez.

Freedom to me is something that communities of color and indigenous communities, you know, we're always working towards freedom. But we've never gained it yet. Right. But I think indigenous communities more relies on tribal sovereignty and the United States, you know, respecting that. To be an American, I don't think it really means anything to me because I'm part of these sovereign nations and I'm Black. So that part of me was forcefully brought over here. And so I wouldn't say that I necessarily celebrate the Fourth of July. I have the day off so I'm definitely going to use it as a time to rest and a time to sit back and recognize my role for both of my communities, my Black community and my native community.

Jon Rogers, 60, worked a coal miner and lives on a farm in Western Kentucky

The coronavirus has been very problematic, obviously, and people's nerves are on edge. And there was a very terrible thing that happened to a man by the police, who we trust. And it was terrible. We've got to come together as a nation and we can work through this. Our freedoms were given to us by generations before us. And it's our responsibility to protect those freedoms and hand it down to our children and our grandchildren. And we can do that without fighting among ourselves if you will. That's my opinion.

I lost both my parents Iast year. My father served in the military and he told me about freedoms. It's very important for us that have never served to understand what a gift we've been given. We just need to guard the freedoms that we have because freedom is the right to be able to live your lives like you want to. And we as parents need to make sure our children understand that.

Davon Goodwin works as a farmer and food hub manager. He lives in Laurinburg, North Carolina, with his wife, Kenya, and their children, 8-year-old Amir and 4-month-old Olivia.

I think for me honestly being a combat veteran, on one end freedom means protecting and serving this country. It's very honorable and I know I'm proud of my service. But then on the other end, being a young Black male in America, it doesn't seem as free. It just doesn't feel good. To me, what it means to be American is you should be able to dream. And I don't think it's monolithic. I don't think you can just all look at yourselves as being American. Even though we all live in the same country, we all don't get the same opportunities in the same country. Until we get change, I think a lot of these meanings that we hold as Americans, they don't mean the same anymore. They don't have that same feeling that we normally feel for Fourth of July and this holiday weekend. I don't feel that way.

This Fourth of July, I will be probably working. My wife's an E.R. nurse so she deals with COVID patients. So we're a little nervous but like I explain to everybody, just like when I was a soldier, what I signed up for. As a nurse, she signed up to serve, you know. And no matter what, that's your duty, even though in these hard times we have to kind of be very mindful of where we go or what we do. But at the same time, we can't stop living. I think the next six months will be definitely a defining point in America's history with the 2020 election coming up. Depending on how these last police brutality cases, how they play out, that will be another defining point, how we go forward as Americans.

Zohra Nasar is a 22-year-old student who also works as a medical scribe in Hyattsville, Maryland. She came to the U.S. from India four and half years ago.

As someone from India who's also Muslim, when I was growing up, I actually saw girls like right after they graduated high school, they had to get married. And they were never allowed to get an education and stuff. I never thought I would live like this right now in America alone. So for me, that is freedom to me. And being able to work towards my success without somebody dictating it, although I still am Indian so my parents do have a little control over my life, but that's freedom to me.

I still want to be a citizen because a huge part of my life, I built it here and I was able to actually do that because of the opportunities here. That's what I like about America. But at the same time, with all the racial injustice that we're witnessing right now, that is also a bit of a conflict. Because if I ever have my own children here and things like that, I have to carefully think about different situations for them too so I am conflicted on that. But I think here I would live a better life than I would live back home.

Kent Stephenson, 33, does dirt construction for a living in his home state of Texas.

Freedom is freedom. And I feel like everybody in the world has kind of lost the fact that, you know, freedom comes with opinions. We're all entitled to our opinions and in our own way, our opinions are correct. And everybody's kind of like lost the fact that their neighbor's opinion is right in a way, even though you don't agree with it. Everybody's kind of about biting back. That's just the biggest thing. We have freedom of speech. You have people saying everything and doing everything from all over and, you know, from riots and protests. And they're right in their way of it when you think of it from their side. And then you got people defending it and they're right from their side. It's like we got to learn to find that compromise between ourselves. I think as long as we all keep our faith in the right places, it's all going to come out and be right.

Assemblywoman Catalina Cruz represents Queens neighborhoods Corona, Elmhurst and Jackson Heights in the New York State Assembly. She is the first Dreamer to get elected to the state legislature of New York.

For me, being American is about privilege. Not only the privilege of being able to vote, but the privilege of not having to worry about being separated from my mom because we have a little piece of paper that guarantees us certain constitutional rights. My mother and I came from Columbia when I was nine years old and for a very long time it was just her and I. Then my two sisters and my brother were born and we also had this beautiful baby niece who's two and a half, and she represents everything we fought so hard for the idea of having a future in the United States, of being able to have an education and being able to work. That is what my baby niece represents.

When I think of freedom, I think of what parents have given up to make sure that their kids can survive. And to me, that means the immigrant parents who fled countries of origin. To me, that means the Black and Brown parents who are going out every day now to protest, to make sure that their kids don't have to endure what they've endured. To me, freedom means the ability to have those opportunities and to fight for them.

On calling 2020 the year we couldnt breathe in an opinion piece

It begins with George Floyd, eight minutes and 46 seconds. But then I reflected that everyone who's been on a ventilator and there've been tens of thousands [who have] also said, I can't breathe. And I think it's worse than that. I think as a civilization, as a nation, we're having a hard time breathing. We're hunched over where we're frightened. We're worried about what's about to come. The discourse is so poisonous in some respects that we just can't step back, take a deep breath and enjoy the blessings of American liberty. And so I think we need to learn to breathe again. Each of us individually and as friends and as couples and as a culture.

But we also, I think, need to remember that [Thomas] Jefferson, even though, you know, he's a highly imperfect human being, a slaveholder, among other things, he launched that sentence: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.' And what I've been reflecting on this week is that if that didn't mean everything, then it meant nothing. In other words, if it means white males of a certain property base, then it's a meaningless statement. If you say all human beings are created equal, at some point you're going to have to step up to that ideal. And if you don't, you're just humbug.

On Thomas Jeffersons controversial legacy

I'm so disappointed in Jefferson. When I started doing [Jefferson impersonations] a couple of decades ago, he was riding high and he was almost regarded as an accidental slaveholder. And that was foolish. Now we know it's just the opposite end of the spectrum. That puts him into a very difficult position. He's a hypocrite and maybe a contemptible hypocrite. And there are people that just can't take him seriously anymore because how could you say that all human beings are created equal and then buy and sell them and somehow learn to live with that whopping contradiction? So this is a period in which Jefferson is really on the ropes. And I take it very personally because I love him, but I think that that sentence is much, much, much greater than Thomas Jefferson. And we need his principles, even if we're gonna give him a D minus or worse in his personal behavior. The biggest mistake we could make would be to jettison Jefferson and the Jeffersonian just because we've now realized that he was a highly imperfect man.

Ciku Theuri, Marcelle Hutchins, Emiko Tamagawa, Ashley Locke, Chris Bentleyand Francesca Paris produced this interview.Tinku Rayand Paris edited it for broadcast.Allison Haganadapted it for the web.

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Living In The U.S. Is 'Shameful And Hopeful': Americans Reflect On Freedom This Independence Day - Here And Now

Congressional Republicans put out a clear message last week: Face masks are OK. You should wear one.

The concerted effort, reluctantly joined by President Donald Trump, should ease the partisan tension, if not end it, over face masks in the battle to stem the spread of the deadly coronavirus.

Hopefully, that will do the same for the larger philosophical struggle that frames the dispute, one that has been at the center of American culture and history since the nations founding individual choice and liberty vs. collective freedom and security.

Striking a balance in that constant conflict isnt easy, and sometimes is downright impossible. When its an either/or situation as it seems with wearing a face mask whose rights matter more?

Increasingly, research has shown the simple act of wearing a facial covering when coming into contact with other people saves lives and helps the economy. The pendulum has long swung in favor of wearing masks. And while polls have shown growing majorities of both Democrats and Republicans doing so, there continues to be a sizable gap between the two, with the latter less enthusiastic.

Not wearing a mask is seen as a political statement for many an individual symbol of opposition to perceived overbearing government edicts. That was a dominant narrative in the media when protesters were rebelling against earlier stay-at-home orders and business closures.

Sometimes it appears theres not such deep thinking behind the choice, but more of a devil-may-care attitude, unaware of or ignoring what may be best for the greater good.

As the coronavirus spread has become worse, concern and anger among the larger populace notably including front-line health care workers have come to the fore.

Terry Taylor, patient care manager at Scripps Mercy Hospital Chula Vistas intensive care unit, has little patience with people who say requiring them to wear face masks infringes on their personal rights.

Wearing a mask, I think, is a minimal ask of anybody, Taylor told Paul Sisson of The San Diego Union-Tribune. Its a violation of human rights to expose somebody who is not going to be able to survive this COVID.

Perhaps this new bipartisan support behind the overwhelming consensus of health experts that wearing masks is essential will cause the pendulum to swing farther in that direction that, and the unfortunate fact that young people, who initially were relatively unaffected by the virus, are now becoming ill in alarming numbers.

It would be nice if the motivation driving this shift was solely concern for the publics health and welfare, but theres more to it than that.

While many Republicans have taken the coronavirus seriously from the start, others exhibited indifference or worse, seemingly taking comfort that it was a regional matter that didnt affect their political territory very much. This is when Democratic strongholds such as New York City and other major cities were being hit hard by the disease.

That, of course, has changed dramatically, as Politico noted last week:

On the pandemics first peak in early April, the states that voted for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton accounted for 67 percent of new Covid-19 cases. For the newest peak, which were still climbing, the states that voted for President Donald Trump have an even larger share: They accounted for 73 percent of new cases on June 28.

Then Goldman-Sachs released a study concluding that a national face mask mandate could help the United States avoid a 5 percent drop in gross domestic product without suffering the public health consequences of a viral resurgence, according to The Observer.

Greater use of masks would allow businesses to open more rapidly and recoup more losses from the shutdown.

Economists for the investment bank figured that a national mandate would increase the percentage of people who wear face coverings by 15 percent, The Observer reported, and reduce the daily growth rate of COVID-19 cases from the current 1.6 percent to 0.6 percent.

Trump has not suggested a national mandate is in the cards, but publicly has changed his view on facial coverings.

Im all for masks, he said on Wednesday, adding that he has worn one occasionally. ". . . I sort of liked the way I looked. It was OK.

The public has not yet seen the president wearing a mask, however. Republican lawmakers have urged him to do so, saying that would encourage more people to wear them as well.

Trump, whose stewardship of the economy has been central to his re-election campaign, no doubt knows what Goldman-Sachs had to say.

About two dozen states have some form of a mask mandate. On Thursday, Republican stronghold Texas instituted a mask requirement in most counties as coronavirus cases continued to spike throughout the state.

Above all of those considerations should be this: Wearing masks saves lives. Various research has shown that. As of Friday, nearly 130,000 people had died in the U.S. from COVID-19.

A coronavirus model created by the University of Washington says 33,000 lives could be saved by Oct. 1 if 95 percent of the U.S. population wore face masks in public. Current projections suggest more than 179,000 people could die from COVID-19 by then. University researchers say that would fall to 146,000 with near-universal mask-wearing.

Those are big political, economic and life-saving numbers. Even if theyre off a bit, they make it difficult to continue arguing against wearing a mask.

Increasingly, masks are being compared with automobile seat belts, which became mandatory in cars in the late 1960s, and in subsequent years all states except New Hampshire required their use. At the outset, many people adamantly resisted, contending it was an infringement on their rights.

The rate of seat-belt use now hovers at just over 90 percent, according to the National Highway Transportation Safety Agency.

In 2017 alone, seat belts saved an estimated 14,955 lives and could have saved an additional 2,549 people if they had been wearing seat belts, NHTSA says.

The consequences of not wearing, or improperly wearing, a seat belt are clear.

Some advocates for facial coverings have been making this argument: Like masks, seat belts dont guarantee your safety, but give you much better odds of surviving an accident or avoiding more serious injury.

One big difference: Masks also help protect other people.

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Goes to Kasie Hunt (@kasie), NBC News Capitol Hill correspondent.

Bars. Bars are really not good. Dr. Anthony Fauci

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Column: The shifting politics of face masks: Whose freedom is it? - The San Diego Union-Tribune