We are coming up on the 248th birthday of this country. In those years it has seen many changes, some that made us better and some that didn’t. Knowing our history is an important part of being able to make decisions that will lead us into the future. Without knowing our history we won’t know where we went wrong or what we did right, it will help us to make better decisions for the future. The way things are going now it seems to me like we are doomed to make a lot of the same mistakes. Their is no denying that this country has some history that it isn’t proud of but learning about it will guide us forward. Trying to change it isn’t going to make the way we are today any better. Neither will blaming the people today for what was done in the past. From what I see this is what seems to be happening.
When this country was founded it was on the dream that America would be free for all people. For a long time it wasn’t that way but we did start moving towards that goal. But what does it mean to be free? Let’s first look at what led to the American Revolution and why the people living here didn’t feel free. Taxation without representation. That is the summary of how people felt. We were paying taxes to a government that did not represent the people that were nor did they care about what was going on in this country, as long as they got their taxes. People didn’t have a say in what was allowed in this country, how they could conduct their business, or where those products sold. To the British all people in this land were slaves to them.
Since this is the way people felt that it doesn’t make a lot of sense of why they would be okay with slavery once the United States gained independence. Freedom was never gained for all people, it was just passed on. The main reason the Civil War was fought was because this country was supposed to be “free for all”. Even though it took a long time for this happen, slavery finally came to an end. This was another step towards freedom for all, however people still didn’t feel that way.
Even after slavery was ended the country was still divided. Just because people looked different they were treated as if they were less than and didn’t deserve the same rights as everyone else. There was no justification for this. Our history is filled with racism and sexism, being acceptable for the majority since we became a country. It is something that may no longer be acceptable but still occurs. It took a long for the attitudes of people in this country to begin to change.
Now we come to the present time. All though we have come a long way and these problems have gotten better, they still exist. Racism and sexism exists every where in the world and should never be tolerated. This is the attitude that gives people that feeling of not being free. Every single American citizen should all have the same rights and that feeling of being free. It shouldn’t matter what we look like nor should it matter what beliefs or opinions we have. People shouldn’t feel scared to go anywhere or to say how they feel. But it does seem like we are moving backwards in that aspect.
We have gotten to the point today where if you don’t agree with someone then they will call you a bigot. If you are a Trump supported than you are automatically a racist, sexist, and bigot. Since when does you political beliefs dictate the type of person you are. How can we consider that we are free in this country when actions like this happen. In this current presidential race I am supporting Trump but that does not mean I agree with everything he says or every political policy he has. However, because I am a Trump supporter democrats will have you believe that I am a racist and sexist. Anybody who knows me know this is the farthest thing from the truth. When we start criticizing people for their political beliefs that is when we lose our freedom.
We have changed from criticizing people because of the way they look to now for their beliefs and opinions. We are being told that we have to believe a certain way and if we don’t that the country will be over. President Biden is always talking about how he is fighting for the democracy of this country. How can he be fighting for democracy by taking it away at the same time? We have a government to make sure our country is operating the way it is supposed to, to uphold the rights and the freedom of the people, not to control the people. When a President tells you that you should be scared and the country will end if he is not elected that is not upholding the values this country is supposed to have.
The reason we are called the United States is because each state acts independently with a federal government to oversee it all. We cast votes for people to run our county, our state, and our country. We cast those votes based on what we feel is the best for our lives and we have the right to feel safe in casting our vote for whoever we want to. We are expected to cast our vote based on criticizing the candidate and the supporters of that candidate. We should be focusing on who is going to be the best for this country, who is going to do the job well. Nobody is talking about what policies are best for our country and which candidate will move us forward based on the job he is going to do, not the person he is.
If we really look at what all the attacks claim you can see how ridiculous they sound. I have heard many people say that if Donald Trump gets elected he will be a dictator, lock up all of his enemies, lead us into wars, and will never leave office. Do they not realize that he was already in office and none of this happened. The problem we have is that we can take anything anyone says and twist it around to fit our personal feelings. This can happen to anyone, not just candidates. This is what is happening and the media is twisting words around to have people living in fear if they don’t agree with them. That is not freedom.
In the four months we have left until the election you need to ask yourself if you feel safe saying how you feel and what your beliefs are, no matter what candidate you support. Don’t just listen to the “main stream” of what people are saying, look at everything that is going on and why it is going on. A lot of people I know just look on social media for their information and that is the worst thing you can do. You need to gather information from all the sources you can, look at the points of view from many different angles. By doing this you can put all the information together and determine what makes the most sense. How many times has the media claimed a story was misinformation only to find out later that it wasn’t (the Hunter Biden laptop for example). The only way you are going to get the whole story is by looking at numerous sources. I try to watch and read multiple media sources and everyone of them will always leave certain stories out.
Casting our vote is the most important right a citizen has in determining the future of this country. People should be able to do this without being afraid of what people will think or say if they don’t vote for who they agree with. We need to know why we should vote for each candidate and who is going to do the best job as freedom. There have recently been stories about the mental and physical capacity of President Biden and if he is capable of doing the job, Some media outlets have tried to hide this and claim that he is fine and alert. I was watching Morning Joe a few weeks ago and Joe Scarborough made the claim that Biden is much more resilient and alert than Trump is and criticized the outlets who reported on Biden’s mental fitness. Instead of listening to media outlets like this, gather all the information, look at how the President acts and responds in the public yourself, and make up your own decision. Anyone who watches that man can’t knows he is not fit to run for office. However, they would rather try and cover it up and put fear in people of what will happen if Biden gets elected, but what will happen if he does get elected. I for one, am not comfortable with him making decisions about the future of this country.
The debate between the two candidates is happening tonight. Watch the debate and make up your own decision. Don’t be afraid to express your true opinions about what you saw and how you feel. Watch how all the media outlets will have different aspects of how the debate went. The bottom line is this is a free country and we are free to make our own choices, have our own beliefs, and vote for whoever we want to.