Remember when we were little? Remember the strong-willed protestations, “You can’t make me!” and “It’s a free country!” We relied on early lessons about this place of ours, America. Even in our childish games, we passed on a tradition of personal freedom.

Through time the childhood lesson underwent a role reversal. Now it is divisive and it’s not confined to children’s games. Now grown-ups act like children. We’re free! We’re good. They’re foreign! They’re bad. Flags are waved and our patriotism is called to task. Where do you stand? Who do you like? Wealth is lionized even when ill-gotten. And the “Past” is hearkened as though it were comprised of Halcyon days. The struggles? They are forgotten—the wars—the dust bowls, famines, the fight for Civil Rights and lingering years of the Great Depression.

Our Constitution, though, was not forgotten in all those times. It centered us in place. It buoyed our society on the age-old shoulders of statesmen who by-gum came together to craft the basis of our nation. They built the important first laws for their own times, for the new Free Country was in dire need Yet they also planned for the future—that unknown territory they could never see, the future they could never comprehend, the one that in two scant centuries became our present day.

Which do you think would have tested their credulity the most? Cars? Skyscrapers? World Wars? Space travel? Or an assault on the First Amendment?[1] The one that says: “Congress shall make no law… abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press….” The law that they placed first, ahead of all the others.

Today there is talk from our top officials that treats leakers and whistle-blowers as though they are nasty individuals out to demolish America and everything good and great about our country. This is shaky ground. People who shine light on wrongdoing are brave folks. They are watchdogs. They are journalists and their sources. They are loyal to high ideals, and they deserve honors not prison sentences. Our founders knew this. Why else would they craft the First Amendment to safeguard the press?

Yet here we are today, in a tumultuous state—a state in which we persist. We persist now—and we will stand on and on—sharing the watch with those who seek Freedom and Justice. We will not lose our freedom. The cause is fairness—fair treatment for all—and a self-ruling government that is fair for everyone. Memories are strong. Passed down, they live on. They persist.


Photo: Chelsea Manning (used here without permission of the author Mattia Luigi Nappi or the subject)[2]

[1] https://www.democracynow.org/shows/2019/5/24?autostart=true – full show (5/24/19)-------The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact democracynow.org.
[2] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chelsea_Manning.jpg – no alterations; used IAW Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 international license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en