Happy Independence Day to my U.S. readers and to all readers, a point of order: let us count our blessings and not let our pursuit of a more perfect union blot out the blessings of liberty that we still enjoy. But those rights must be carefully guarded, for they are painfully gained and easily lost.
Free Speech As The Bedrock Of An Flourishing Nation
In a recent story, I mentioned Hong Kong’s 25th anniversary of independence it recently celebrated from the United Kingdom. Quite a juxtaposition between our two nations, right?
We can’t be so superficial as to count up all of Hong Kong’s faults (lack of basic freedoms, an unacceptably high COVID-19 mortality rate considering the longterm shutdown, vast income inequality) without looking critically at our own (perhaps too many too count, as today’s latest mass shooting reminds us), but I’ll take the U.S. system and all its baggage any day over trying to google Tiananmen Square and finding zero results.
Freedom of speech is paramount to a flourishing society. Freedom of speech means allowing idiots and fools to spew off hate. That is why we take a liberal policy to comments on Live and Let’s Fly and why I will defend your right to voice your opinion in the public square. Words have consequences. I won’t hire bigots in my business. But I’ll still defend your right to speak freely.
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Meanwhile the war in Ukraine continues. As troubling as I find Russia’s illegal invasion of a sovereign nation, I find it troubling that both Russia and Ukraine share a dangerous quality: dissent is not tolerated.
Most of us know about Russia’s lack of free speech, but the Ukrainian government is complicit in its efforts to censor Russian-language media and suppress Soviet-era symbols and communist parties that frankly do have support in pockets of eastern Ukraine. One wrong doesn’t justify retaliation in kind.
As we think about the U.S. national anthem, penned by Francis Scott Key during the War of 1812, one line resonates today:
And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;
Our great history that has built the largest and most powerful economy in the world has been built on sweat, blood, and tears…but also on speech. The power of speech to inspire and to change is critical.
Even when we see that speech is ripping us apart and we cry out for discernment in sifting between truth and fiction, I’d far rather grapple with that dilemma than be told what I must think by a government intent on preserving its power or the vested interests it coddles. And frankly I see no middle way.
So yes indeed, there is so much wrong with this country and we cannot just turn the other way and ignore it. But I celebrate the freedom of speech in this nation and as I travel the world and visit so many nations in which citizens do not enjoy that right, it merely confirms that in this way, we have much to be proud of.
CONCLUSION
Even as we celebrate the freedom that unites us, let us also lament the fear and evil that divides us. Yet the answer is not to stifle speech. The answer to speech is more speech.
Perhaps we would be wise to keep this oft-neglected verse of the National Anthem, added during the Civil War, in the front of our thoughts today:
When our land is illumined with Liberty’s smile,
If a foe from within strike a blow at her glory,
Down, down with the traitor that dares to defile
The flag of her stars and the page of her story!
By the millions unchained, who our birthright have gained,
We will keep her bright blazon forever unstained!
And the Star-Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave
While the land of the free is the home of the brave.
Happy 4th!!! Today I celebrate 20 years of landing in this country with a few bags, an admission to a business school and many dreams. Cannot thank this country enough and I am proud to call it home.
One of the nicest sentiments you have ever shared, Santastico. More of this, please.
The greatest pride I have as an American is the opportunity we give immigrants to this country. There is nowhere else in the world where you are offered such a chance. Maybe Australia, but then you spend your life upside down, lol.
Great post Matthew, let’s hope we can pull it all together and return to the time when we had differences but were able to find common ground.
@Stuart: I don’t disagree with what you said but there is a huge difference between immigrants like me and what you unfortunately see happening today. I busted my ass to come here legally. I sold everything I had in my home country, cleaned my bank account and that was enough to allow me to pay for a small place to live, eat and buy books. I was fortunate to attend one of the most prestigious schools in this country by my own merit and not race, gender or religion quota. I came here with no bank account, no credit card, two suitcases and took a huge student loan to pay for my school. Once I graduated, I saved everything I could to pay back my loan as soon as I could. I paid every single cent of it with my hard work. I applied for every visa there was available for me, paid all the fees to get a green card and later to become a citizen. I paid taxes as soon as I got my first paycheck. Thus, I came here the right way. I fully support giving chances to immigrants, helping refugees, but opening the borders to anyone that wants to come here and suck the system is wrong in my opinion. Selecting employees and students based on their gender, race and religion is wrong in my opinion. Nobody is forced to attend a college so offering to eliminate student loan debts is wrong in my opinion. As I said, I came here with almost nothing and worked hard to build what I have. Legally, paying taxes and without any help from politicians. So, this country is a very special place as you said that allows people that are willing to work hard to succeed. Not giving stuff for free in exchange for votes.
No one in this country wants to just willy nilly open the flood gates to immigrants. That’s certainly not the problem. The issue is trying to contain immigration to assure legal entry while not violating basic human rights at the borders (i.e. children in cages). It’s a slippery slope and the reality is that neither party has any real solutions.
Sure, you were fortunate in having an education and ability to more easily gain a student visa, after a green card, so of course you have options and the process, while not easy, is still far more available than, say, a couple from El Salvador escaping violence but with only basic skills. The reality is though that their limited skills are, in many ways, needed even more.
Take for example a conversation I had in London with a colleague recently. He runs numerous businesses there and, since Brexit, London has become a vacuum of finding workers. They are gone. The Poles that used to be the workers coming to London to take entry level work in construction, restaurants, housekeeping etc…many left and no one is coming now. As he said, “In a few years London will be this haven of super wealthy with everyone standing around staring at each other with no restaurants, services, shops, or anywhere to go. Because there are no immigrants coming now that are willing to do those jobs.”
Even in the U.S., talk to restaurant owners. Immigrants were the bread and butter of service workers for years. In DC my favorite restaurant, Tosca, was entirely made up of staff from Czech, Serbia, Russia, El Salvador, and Poland. They never had issues finding a new stream of immigrants coming in to work. Now, they are begging and grossly understaffed.
Balance in everything. Immigrants like you are wonderful with a higher level education. But even more needed are the workers. And they are not being welcomed like they once were.
@Stuart: just to be clear, I studied in one of the worst school districts in my home country. Public school all the way and a very bad neighborhood. I had the same education many of my classmates had. Many of them are in jail or chose a different life. If you work hard, you can succeed. It is all about your goals.
You said about immigration “not violating basic human rights at the borders (i.e. children in cages).” and mentioned a couple from El Salvador escaping violence. Can you imagine if we allow everyone escaping the violence from all the communist countries in Latin America to simply walk in here? Yes, it is a slippery slope but we simply cannot be the escape option for everyone that voted to those regimes to then regret and decide to come here. They know they can’t come bit still they force themselves in. I read almost every week about some Brazilians that died trying to cross the river. They know the risk but decide to take it.
You example about Brexit is an interesting one. That country still lives in the Stone Age and they chose to leave the EU. Let them pay the price. I am not talking about sending all immigrants back. I am talking about having a decent process that allows the ones that want to come here come in a legal way, pay taxes, follow the rules. It is easy when you get in illegally but want all the benefits that you get as a legal citizen. How about paying taxes to start? I live in an area full of refugees. They never embraced the American culture. They only speak their language, they don’t want male teachers at the schools they attend, etc…. You want to come here? Come legally, pay taxes, embrace the culture and be proud of becoming an American.
Santastico, We don’t disagree here. The issue is that many Americans interpret LEGAL immigration as being, “damn immigrants!” They get lied to by extremists that they are stealing their jobs, reshaping the American system, and ruining our country. Even though, ironically, every single one of them complaining hails from a family connection of immigrants. This results in racist xenophobia and pushes people into that “enclave” you mention which, of course, feels protective to them. You see very few “illegal” Asian immigrants anymore but still, look at the racist attacks and what they endure. Of course the result is that they will crawl inside their shell like a turtle for protection. Who can blame them? Heck, even in the reverse we see it with expat communities around the world which resort to that. I know expats who have lived and worked for years in Brazil, Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai etc and who NEVER stray outside their familiar culture of other expats for socializing and whatever.
No one wants to encourage illegal immigration. No one wants to see people skirt the system and get away with being ghosts that never pay taxes and MIGHT resort to crime. Of course not. Nor do people want to witness brutality or human rights violations in protecting our borders. Yet, in this process, no one offers solutions. This extends long before Biden, Trump, or Obama. It’s a decades old problem. The issue is that right wing ideology pushes their base into thinking the only solution is to create fear, which begets racism, which begets closed minded thinking that any immigrant coming here is a problem. But, in fact, they still offer no solutions. Pointing fingers is the only solution being they can find.
To me, the solution is simple. Establishing easy fast track immigration in the nearby countries where demand is high and people live in danger. Placing more agents there in that originating country to vet and assist in legal expedited entry with proper screening and interviews. A process that does not take years, but months…or maybe even weeks. The bureaucracy that many Afghans endured trying to get to the U.S. is a perfect example. That is not a product of one administration rather than a result of how slow the system has been for decades. I know this, my uncle worked for the State Department in Kabul for 5 years processing requests during the Bush and Obama years. It often took years to get approvals, many of which he called a “slam dunk” and were obviously fine. I am sure in the case of bordering countries or those accessed via Mexico that those alone could easily be sped up, restructured, and which would send a message to people there that this is a better way than becoming part of a migrant group walking 1000 miles to the border to escape illegally. Otherwise, a mother and father in Honduras with a daughter who they know will be raped by the time she is 13 will not wait, would you?
So there it is, simple. Solutions. And remembering that the screaming for stopping illegal immigrants because they are “rapists and drug dealers” is a dangerous rhetoric that is often interpreted by “Mabel in Iowa” as meaning, “All immigrants – and they are ALL coming to take my belongings, my home and rape me.”
Please, more immigrants. We need them and we have the space. And I could care less if the woman cleaning my room at the Hyatt is fluent in English.
The country into which current migrants are coming is vastly different from the one that saw massive waves of immigration a century ago or more. Thanks to the Progressives, the 20th century saw a steady beat of war and growth in the leviathan. At the turn of the century, all government spending comprised less than 10% of GDP. Now it exceeds 40%. That is a higher rate than in Red China. Would you be happy to see your tax dollars go to support illegal immigrants if you were experiencing economic uncertainty? Right or wrong, folx aren’t so keen on helping those they perceive as being unlike them. It’s no different in Europe. Bernie loves to tout Denmark as an ideal of democratic socialism, but it is 86% Danish and recently elected an anti-immigrant government.
Well said, Santastico!
I was born into this country 56+ years ago, and couldn’t be more disappointed this 4th, that we are closer to renewing the 3/5ths Clause than we have ever been since 1868.
It’s been a sad month to be an American.
I’m sure the babies who will now live have a different viewpoint.
Yea, all the babies that are born with missing organs, non functioning brains, and other debilitating malformations are going to be so glad they will now be brought to full term.
You sir or madam, are one disgusting phony Christian pile of crap
I am heartened that you support eugenics. One day you and your ilk will be shown to be no better than the disgusting racists that claimed that Black slaves were property too.
News flash. This is a travel blog. Keep you political opinions to yourself as no one else cares.
You must be new here, lol
Yup…an illegitimate, ultra right extremist Supreme Court is attempting to roll back the 20th century…next up is Obergefell, then probably Loving.
Minority rule is how democracies fall…we are well on our way.
They are legitimate and following the letter of the law.
It’s a long time coming that the activist judges of left are reigned in.
Democracy is a sham. Keep sending money to the DNC so it can screw over Bernie and his bros.
No personal attacks.
It was hardly an attack. If anything, I was happy to see that UA-TDS had not, in fact, been aborted. As abhorrent as I find his views, I do not wish him harm. I don’t believe he has ever extended the courtesy to me. Many pro-abortionists advocate not just feticide but also infanticide. Is adult homicide so far off? Surely you have seen the incitement of violence by the left in the aftermath of Roe being overturned. Plenty of “progressives” were fine with aborting counterrevolutionaries. Why is it that there are so many movies about Hitler killing Jews but not about Stalin, Mao or Pol Pot? How many of the Boomer left were vehement supporters of Mao back in the day? How many were literal domestic terrorists? See Chesa Boudin’s biological parents and guardians. Today’s lunatic left are their anti-American progeny.
Abortion is murder. The rights of the unborn age being upheld
And as soon as they’re born they don’t have a right to live because Trump worshipping incels will kill them at school, or grocery stores, or discos, or concerts, or parades.
And god forbid they get raped as kids, koggerj and his ilk will demand that the rapist get joint custody of the child
So the fact that you think suppressing communist in Ukraine is kinda pretty not so great, that’s the counterbalance to the fact that a neighbor launched a war on an independent country?
If Canada invaded the U.S., would you say “Well, while I don’t like that they invaded our country, but we sure haven’t had a great civil rights record, soo…..”
Utterly idiotic. Not even close by orders of magnitude.
omg just noticed this and jumped to the comments – Yea this is really Sunday level idiocy.
Context often escapes the vacuous…
@Credit: No, it’s not the counterbalance and please drop your false equivalency that I did not create nor even imply.
But when Ukraine starts acting like the enemy to beat the enemy, I do shake my head. And of course Poroshenko was even worse.
But for the avoidance of doubt, I am no fan of Russia and condemn its foolish aggression. There is no equivalency between the evil of Russia and the foolishness of Ukraine.
Thanks for letting me clarify that.
And what of the US/NATO training of Ukrainian troops? $54 billion in “aid?” How well do you think that will be administered in a country that Hunter Biden and the Big Guy were doing shady business in for years? Transparency International ranks only Russia as more corrupt in Europe. The entire annual Russian military budget is less than $66 billion. The neocon endgame is regime change in Russia and has been for years. They will never learn. America is willing to fight down to the last Ukrainian. The winners of this war will be folx like Raytheon, avid practitioner of globohomo. What allyship!
https://www.vice.com/en/article/z3xmk8/companies-are-using-pride-month-to-rainbow-wash-bombs-and-tasers
Shouldn’t that be rocket’s red glare?
No, there were many rockets.
“No refuge could save the hireling and the slave[.]” You forgot to mention that part.
Yes, Key didn’t think highly of British troops.
Thanks for the reminder that the USA likely has the best free speech protections on the entire planet. Many other nations that are CONSIDERED to be “free” including Canada, Australia, New Zealand and many European nations have what is called “hate speech” laws which really nullifies freedom of speech because “nice” speech rarely if ever needs protection.
In the usa you are now told what to think my billionaire media owners and their millionaire flunkies. The problems of the usa are manifold and while I hope it gets better I don’t see that actually happening.
From immigrants like Santasico who want to pull up the gates to a rabid loony party that seeks to make the country less free, the usa is sadly going down fast
The billionaire oligarchs who control the mainstream media tell you to support the current thing. Your comments indicate you are happy to comply.
Says the troll who feeds off what he is told by Fox News
Fox News is actually the least biased of the major networks, but that is besides the point. They are also statists. They just don’t lie as much as the other networks do. I notice you don’t deny your allegiance to the current thing. Keep on truckin’!
Lol. The current thing? Sorry I don’t speak in Qnacy
On this 4th of July, I reflect that I wish my relatives emigrated to Australia.