Fostering an Environment of Freedom

Hello all! After my short vacation from blogging, I am back and ready to go forward. Thank you all for your patience in waiting. I would like to write today a short post on the current state of the US as I see it.

We live in a country which, by it's very nature, is meant to be free. It is meant to encourage it's citizenry to grow to their fullest potential. It is meant to be a country where the people are in control by who we elect and don't elect. It is meant to be one nation under God, with liberty and justice for all.

What is truly, then, the best way to foster this environment of freedom?
-Keep the government out of the way. How can we be free if we are being held down? Move restrictions of government out of the way and let the people live their life as they see fit. Freedom.
-Keep the government out of our pocketbooks. How can we be free if the government is spending our money for us? This is not to say that government doesn't need to have tax revenue; police forces and any public safety is very important. Do we, however, need to pay millions of our dollars to research cow flatulence? I don't think so. (Yes, this research is for real and happening with our tax money right now.) Let the people have their money and spend it as they please. Freedom.
-Keep the debate ways open. This is where our country is at it's best. We live in a place where freedom of debate is available and openly used. Let me, however, say what debate is not. It is not marching down the street, offending as many people as you can while destroying private or public property. It is not a disruptive force; it is a conversation. Let the people discuss the best way to move forward. Freedom.

Of course, what this all comes down to is the individual citizen's responsibility to be involved and informed about this country, the elected officials, and the events surrounding them. Ignorance of American citizens leads to a government with unlimited control over the citizenry; able to manipulate and guide their opinions. Awareness leads to freedom; it allows the citizens to understand not only what's happening, but a way to change what will happen. Let us all, therefore, be informed and ready to make the decisions this country asks of us; and as always God Bless America.
I leave you now with a quote from Thomas Paine's Common Sense: "A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defense of custom."