“Land of the free.”
“Leader of the free world.”
Realistically looking to the past and present I do not see how individuals can continue to believe these sayings to be true. Just yesterday the lower house of Uruguay’s Congress passed a bill to allow same-sex couples to adopt children and the approval of their Senate is practically guaranteed. The passing of this bill will lead the way for other Latin American countries to do the same.
Adoption by same-sex couples is legal in Guam, Andorra, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, South Africa, Spain, Germany, Finland, Greenland, and now almost Uruguay. Yet 36 states if the US continue to bar same-sex couples from participating in adoption. Moreover, only a handful of states have agreed to recognize the right of same-sex couples to marry.
These unequal policies are nothing new in US history. As many of us know this country was built on the backs of slavery from the bounty of imperialism. The only group that has a long history of freedom in this country is white Protestant heterosexual males. Considering the fact that they have historically been the only individuals allowed to write government documents I guess these sayings should come as no surprise. But for the sake being accurate I contend that we edit the following sayings to fall within reality, past and present.
“Land of the free” to “Land of the free white Protestant heterosexual males.”
“Leader of the free world” to “Leader of the arms race.”
-mateo
5 comments:
It's almost satirical.
I think that if “land of the free” and “leader of the free world” are not appropriate in describing America than the words have no meaning, and you certainly wouldn’t be able to describe any other country with those phrases. Every country has ways in which people don’t have the freedom to do something. No country is, or can be, perfectly free. There are plenty of ways in which I want America to be freer, and in a lot of cases emulate other countries that have more freedom in a certain area. America’s restrictions on adoption is an odd argument to try to justify America not standing for freedom. Most of the restrictions surrounding adoption is because they want the best parents for the child, and there is usually a long waiting list of willing parents. Even though there are ways in which America could be freer I still think there are very significant reasons why America stands for freedom much more than any other country.
The most significant way in which America stands for freedom much more than any other country is its fight for liberty around the world. I see this as the most significant because when there is truly a need for freedom, under a dictator, or when a population is suffering from genocide, if anyone is going to help you, it is likely to be America. This is so much more significant than the ways America is lacking in freedom. If you are a person living in a free country, it is likely Americans have died for your freedom. The only other two countries that have risen to fight all three of the greatest oppressors in recent history (Nazism, Communism, and Islamic fascism) are Australia and Great Britain (and America clearly led the fight against the second two). They are the only two countries that would even be comparable to America in this area. Just to be clear, compared to my ideal I think America does a horrible job at defending freedom in the world. But if I compare everything to my ideal, which doesn’t exist in reality, rather than compare it to everything else in the same category, I’m not in tune with reality. Therefore its still fair to say America stands for freedom.
Another area that justifies America being called “land of the free” and “leader of the free world” is because of the revolution of the way in which government is run. I think the freest form of government is the constitutional system that America has. America’s constitution predates all of the countries you listed and those countries constitutions have no doubt been influenced by America’s.
Another way that America has had a significant influence on the freedom of the world is its use of free-market principles. America’s vast wealth is largely because of these principles, not because of slavery or imperialism. Unfortunately free-market principles are declining more and more in America and they will continue to do so under Obama. America no longer leads the world in allowing people the freedom to spend their money how they choose, but America can be credited in playing a significant role in bringing this principle of freedom into the world.
“Land of free white protestant heterosexual males” is a pretty silly thing to say. If you don’t think that non-whites, and non-protestants, non-heterosexuals, and non-males, are generally free in America, than “free” has no meaning. America has fought for the freedom of people that are not of the majority race, majority religion, majority sexuality, and women more than any other country, and in places where their lack of freedom is much more severe than not being able to adopt. I can give some examples if you don’t know what I’m referring to. While slavery was universal around the world, it was rare that 350,000 white men died for the freedom of 4 million black slaves during the civil war. America’s liberation of Kuwait is a good example of America fighting for people that are not of the majority religion. America has fought some of the regimes that have been the cruelest to homosexuals from Nazi Germany to the modern fight against the Taliban. It is difficult to think of a regime that oppresses women more than the Taliban, who had free reign until America sought to destroy them.
Anyone can complain about any country. And any country is behind other countries in certain areas. Pick the country that you think stands for freedom more than America overall and lets discuss this comparison.
Mr. Gonzalez -- I'm a little worried. This was not the line you took in your last essay. It's been a few months, but if I recall, you sounded fairly convinced about the natural right precepts in the Declaration of Independence, and that all of America's sins really are because of a rejection of IT'S OWN first principles, which transcend nation, race, gender, religion, etc.
Perhaps you changed your mind over the summer. But I really hope you didn't write that because you thought you had to agree with me -- that was not at all my intention.
--KW
Kevin,
I would not say that I was ever convinced that "natural right precepts in the Declaration of Independence, and that all of America's sins really are because of a rejection of IT'S OWN first principles."
I am not sure what paper you are referring to but I am sure I believed some of it.
It seems to me that the first principle of the U.S. is colonization. So it was founded and so has it been used to build its strength.
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