A View From the Deck: You want my Rights and Freedoms? Molon Labe!

NOTE: The following is OPINION. As such, it is the author's point of view and his alone

It’s troubling that people pay more attention to
‘March Madness’ or how the Red Sox and Yankees are expected to perform in the
upcoming baseball season, than they do about the fact that, little by little,
more and more each day, your Freedoms and Rights are being gradually taken away.

Hopefully people will wake up and notice before it
becomes too late to reverse the trend.

The current administration, and the governor of our
state, is saying to us “People. Lay down your Rights and Freedoms. It will be
better for us all.”

To that I say “Molon Labe!”

“We just want to make it where everyone benefits
from your work,” they state from high upon the Hill.

“Molon Labe!” I shout.

“We’re really just trying to make our children safer.
You need not arm yourself. You need not dissent. Become one with us and help,”
they implore me.

But I say to them, once more, with the greatest
conviction that I can muster “MOLON LABE!”

For those wondering what this phrase is, or what it
means, it was uttered by King Leonidas of Sparta, in the year 480BC, when the
Persian Empire, under Xerxes, sought to conquer and enslave the Greek mainland.
Xerxes told Leonidas to “Lay down your weapons. Do not dissent. Be one with us
and serve me.”

Leonidas answered “Molon Labe,” which in ancient
Greek means “Come and take them.”

(They made another recent movie on this historic
event called ‘300’)

But how does it apply to what’s going on today in
our country? Who, you may ask, is trying to ‘enslave us?’ What Freedoms and Rights
have we lost? Will the Red Sox make it to the playoffs?

Freedom, in many forms, some so small you don’t even
give them a thought, is gradually being taken away by both the Federal and State
governments in our country. Your Freedom ‘against unreasonable searches and
seizures’ has been taken away. You doubt that? Try to board a plane without
going through the ‘security portal.’ Or when you’re roughly frisked because of
the implant in your knee or shoulder.

Your Freedom and Right of Independent thought and
opinion is gone. Just try and have a differing opinion on issues that affect
you with others, and you’ll discover what I mean.

Your Freedom to Worship how you choose, without fear
of persecution…gone.

Right to Property? Ditto.

Even now, our Rights under the 2^nd
Amendment, which some believe is not meant for ‘We, the People,’ but all the
others that follow it are, is under attack, in ways so small as to be allowed
to slip by unnoticed. “You don’t need high-capacity magazines,” they state. “You
don’t need assault-style weapons.” Soon it will be “You don’t need ammunition,
or certain types of firearms,” until the day comes when it is announced that “Private
Citizens have no need to own firearms for defense or other reasons. Only the
police and military will possess firearms from this point on.”

Molon Labe!

Even Freedom of thought and speech, through all
forms of print and literature, is under attack. As a writer, I often receive
‘guidelines’ and instructions from publishing houses regarding what they deem
as ‘acceptable.’ This extends to all genres, including Children’s, Young Adult
fiction, and ‘DIY’ types of instructional books.

The following are but a select few of one national publisher’s
instructions about what they cannot publish, as any of it could be considered ‘Politically Incorrect:’

• Women cannot be depicted as care givers or doing
household chores.

• Men cannot be lawyers or doctors or plumbers. They
must be nurturing helpmates.

• Old people cannot be feeble or dependent; they
must jog or repair the roof.

• Children cannot be shown as disobedient or in
conflict with adults.

• Overt displays or descriptions of “Patriotism” are
not allowed

• “Abnormal” is banned because it is demeaning to
people with disabilities.

• “Fraternity” is banned as sexist. Replace with
“community.”

• “Illegal alien” is banned. Replace with
“undocumented resident.”

• “Minority” is banned. Replace with “historically
underrepresented group.”

• “Senior citizen” is banned as demeaning to older
people.

• Do not portray poverty.

Honestly, it’s nothing more than censorship. And
these Rights and Freedoms don’t just belong to a few, despite what some of the
Special Interests claim. They belong to every one of us. To every American
citizen.

And it is the duty of each of us to defend those
Rights and Freedoms, even if we choose, on an individual basis, not to exercise
them.

The gradual, unnoticed progression of government
intrusion in our personal lives, as well as in our economic activities, has
become the ‘issue de jour’ in America. It is intensified by the uncontrolled
advance of government spending, resulting in massive government debt and
deficits that jeopardize the efficient functioning of the economy, while affecting
our economic freedom. Our personal freedom is directly related to the economic
freedom of the nation.

We are told by the ‘out-of-touch’ crowd in the
nation’s capital that we must “Do more with less.” We are told that we, the
American consumer, who is directly responsible for economic growth, must
“Tighten our belts.” This, while these ‘representatives’ continue to spend OUR
TAX DOLLARS on failed ‘Green Energy’ programs, on ‘Foreign Aid’ to nations of
questionable allegiance, on ‘Important research’ into things like
‘Robo-squirrel,’ and snail sex.

HOGWASH! When does enough become enough?

But for some, one's loss of freedom becomes
another's comparative ‘win,’ in either what they mistake for ‘freedom,’ or
material gain. The current political and ideological division of the country is
a direct reflection of the lack of consensus of whether our material gains,
especially to those who receive these gains for free, is in fact making us less
free. The ‘Nanny State’ dependence on government aid among many in this country
has created an entirely new form of slavery that rivals a Virginia tobacco
plantation of pre-Civil War America.

“Lay down your free will and we will give you stuff.”

Molon Labe!

Some believe that “Where one person’s right ends,
another’s begins.” Simply put, that is nothing more than horsecrap; senseless
rhetoric spouted out by those that want to see our individual freedoms lost.

There are also those that believe that “Any freedoms
lost don’t really make a difference in the grand scheme of things.” Tell that
to the families of the brave young men and women that have fought and died to
preserve those freedoms that some are so willing to let slip away. Explain to
them how the sacrifice of a loved one “doesn’t make a difference in the grand
scheme of things.” Go on. I dare you.

Our ‘representatives,’ both on State and Federal
levels, are pushing on limiting, if not eventually outright removing, the
Rights guaranteed by the 2^nd Amendment of the Constitution of the
United States by saying “This is for our children. They are our most precious commodity.
Any perceived freedoms lost are worth it for their benefit.”

Hmm. WHERE have I heard that before? Oh yeah. I
remember.

"The state must declare the child to be the
most precious treasure of the people. As long as the government is perceived as
working for the benefit of the children, the people will happily endure almost
any curtailment of liberty and almost any deprivation." Mein Kampf, Adolf
Hitler.

So, the next time you hear of any personal Freedom
or Right come under attack, will you:

A. Stand defiant, upholding the Rights and Freedoms
of us all?

B. Submit to the will of those ‘out-of-touch’ ‘representatives?’

C. Worry about the Red Sox Bullpen?

My answer is this: Molon Labe!