We the People



We the People", three simple words written in the books of history that are the binding words of democracy. Their meaning is just as simple. We are the creators of our destiny. We are free to do as we wish, where and when we wish. Free! Moreover, because of our freedom we can speak to the world with our words and ideas. Because of the examples set by those who are free, Freedom, Liberty, and Independence are coveted across the globe. Unfortunately, those three words are hard won privileges. Millions have offered the ultimate sacrifice to preserve it. Slaves across the centuries have hoped, fought, and died for its sweet taste. The lessons learned, however, have left a bitter taste and a foul smell in the pages of history. Wars have ravaged lands and devastated cities. Whole populations were systematically murdered to deny those who pursued it. Those people fortunate enough to escape the carnage had only hope to cling to when their livelihoods were taken from them.

Hope is the basis of freedom. It is the spark that causes those ideals, which oppressive influences endeavor to suppress, to swell, and stretch against its forced imprisonment. Breaking the shackles that bind it the outcry of Freedom explodes from within racing over the land in a gale touching all whose lives have been shattered by oppression. Spurring them on to revolution and release. Once freedom is established, though, do we use it to enrich our lives or do we allow, under the guise of the newly won freedom, our aggressive nature to take advantage of those weaker or lesser in number than us. Even those who love peace above all else can be driven to injustice, thereby defeating the purpose of freedom. Seems that history records the same ideas and humans follow the same paths. The only real constant is the change in technology, which is used for either the advancement of civilization or its slow destruction.
However, the imagination to create this new technology does not change the basic human species. Maybe the aggressive nature inherent in us all clouds our judgment or better still maybe our intelligence clouds our wisdom. Most of us are ready to push aside peace and wage war for peace. Ready to kill at a moment's notice just because a person looks differently or has a different religion or worse yet does not conform to another's ideas. Ruthless behavior has been driven into our existence so deeply that it now governs our way of life. "Kill 'em." Is it that the freedom that we so richly desire is a double-edged sword?

Once humans have the individualistic attitudes given them by freedom they form their own ideas about how life should be changed and directed. Therein lays the problem. Who's right and who's wrong. To help humans direct the future we put those with the more convincing attitudes and louder voices into a higher position than the common person. There we give them the power to make the laws to keep us on track to cultural survival. If they decide to change the direction for partisan reasons Freedom, Liberty, and Independence give us the option to remove those who govern us. We the people will speak when the path begins to waver and bend in the wrong direction. Our laws are made for the common person and we will remain in control.


Copyright by Bruce Humphrey