On Liberty

Liberty is freedom from fear of the past, and confidence on what is ahead.

Once in bondage, now I'm free. Once regulation enslaved me, but grace removed my bonds.

The Taliban is a fundamentalist Islamic organization which once ruled Afghanistan before western forces liberated that country. When those fundamentalists took over Afghanistan in 1996 that country was ruled by Sharia Law, the same government/religious entity now supported by the left in this country! One of the first acts the Taliban did was to remove much of the legacy of the past from their country. Mullah Omar, following a decree stating: "all the statues around Afghanistan must be destroyed. (Luke Harding (2001-03-03). "How the Buddha got his wounds". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2010-08-27).

Now, the political left joins the religious right of the Taliban in demanding all statues of those associated with slavery be removed. Regardless of reason, in the United States, that kind of censorship is of the same ilk as book burnings. For those who can't stand the opinions of others, the precedent has been to "burn, baby, burn!" The alternative to burning the statues of noble men, albeit with human flaws, is to hide them away for future destruction when the left regains power. We can fight the Taliban with guns and bombs, but the left must be fought with reason.

The excuse for hiding those statues is that they are offensive. Everything is offensive to someone. For instance, the Statue of Liberty is offensive to some because it doesn't really represent freedom, but a false God which Libertas is. Some consider her as the embodiment of Lucifer with the flaming torch, and indeed that statue replaced those of Christ in the churches of the First French Republic. Shall we hide Liberty behind some trees somewhere? I'm not a Taliban as is the left, so I think not!

To some, Mohammad Ali is offensive because of his draft dodging activities. Shall we remove all vestiges of his legacy? The left wants one side to be favored, and the other side censored as if history didn't exist! 

Government censorship of statues is just the beginning. Anything which had even a remote connection to slavery will be vilified and removal demanded. Now it's confederate personalities; next comes even the founding fathers!

Benjamin Franklin owned slaves. His statue must go! George Washington owned slaves for fifty-six years. (http://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/slavery/ten-facts-about-washington-slavery/). Some will demand that his and Martha's caskets be exhumed from internment at Mt. Vernon, and buried in some obscure place - even though in later life he freed his own, the first founding father to do so!

Likewise, Thomas Jefferson's bust will be removed from all its places. He owned slaves and wrote the document  that declared independence of a slave-holding nation.  His views on race was as follows:

Jefferson’s belief in the necessity of abolition was intertwined with his racial beliefs.  He thought that white Americans and enslaved blacks constituted two “separate nations” who could not live together peacefully in the same country.( Notes, ed. Peden, 138. The 1832 edition is available online. See Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia (Boston: Lilly and Wait, 1832), 144.)  Jefferson’s belief that blacks were racially inferior and “as incapable as children." (Jefferson to Edward Coles, August 25, 1814, in PTJ:RS, 7:604. Transcription available at Founders Online.)

Twelve presidents owned slaves including U.S. Grant! Jefferson owned 600. Here are twelve groups of statues which have to go! (as some will charge). Even Yankees Martin Van Buren, as well as Grant owned slaves.

James Madison proposed the 3/5 compromise. He certainly needs to be censored even though he helped found this "bigoted" nation!

Then what do we do with "the great emancipator himself", Abe Lincoln whose Emancipation Proclamation freed zero slaves in the United States! After all, this "bigot" said:

“I will say then that I am not, nor ever have been in favor of bringing about in anyway the social and political equality of the white and black races – that I am not nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality. And inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be the position of superior and inferior, and I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race. I say upon this occasion I do not perceive that because the white man is to have the superior position the negro should be denied everything.”

by:

Abraham Lincoln
(1809-1865) 16th US President
Source:

Fourth Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Charleston, Illinois, September 18, 1858
(The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln edited by Roy P. Basler, Volume III, pp. 145-146.)

My point is that there will be no end to this symbolic "book burning". Even history is in the process of being rewritten to make some feel better about themselves! Our founding father's will become traitors in this century while benevolent ideologists like Marx will be valued for their enlightened view on social justice!

You see, this anger is fostered. There are those elite who will foment divisiveness for the sake of power. We must examine who has what to gain. Since even the U.S. Constitution honored the institution of slavery with its 3/5's Provision, in time it too must go! John Hancock's bold signature will need to be struck off the Declaration of Independence because he kept those slaves which that Yankee inherited! There will be no end to the censorship, and Americans will soon have the good that came with freedom replaced by the deception of social justice. Our very existence is threatened as Satan continues to deceive!

Even some of my friends see Charlottesville, Virginia through gray tinted lenses.. The problem is all of the protestors there; not just the designated haters. Both sides were filled with hate. They demonstrated it well, and even the mob which demanded that harmless statues be removed provoked division. Hate in any form is still hatred whether covert or outright. Why can't we all just get along? Because rather than the whole, each group looks out for themselves. A true liberal can accept the existence and imperfection of  bad ideas of another. The left wing is not liberal, they are tyrants!

We are to love one another - even our enemies. I see much hatred on both sides. Who wins? Neither, but Satan smiles! We need to denounce Antifa as a violent mob who spew hatred, as well as the despicable carriers of the Nazi flag. Evil knows no wing. Left and right hatred are both evil. Satan uses both to divide and conquer. Those civil people who follow either are just part of the ignorant herd. "Father, forgive them. They know not what they do!"