Sidetrack From My Real Work

Rant inspired by Abe Lincoln and some reading.

Lincoln: "The theory of our government is universal freedom.

But on the idea of freedom (and older N.A. gent):
"The white world puts all the power at the top [...] when someone gets to the top, they have the power to take your freedom. When your people first came to our land they were trying to get away from those people at the top. But they still thought the same, and soon there were new people at the top in the new country. It is just the way you were taught to think.
In your churches there is someone at the top. In your schools, too. In your government. In your business. There is always someone at the top and that person has the right to say whether you are good or bad. They own you.
No wonder Americans always worr about freedom. You have so damn little of it. If you don't protect it, someone will take it away from you. You have to guard it every second, like a dog guards a bone."

So, what I am saying is that I disagree with Lincoln. The earliest theory of our government, not to mention the first applications of that government, was not universal freedom. But I think that Lincoln, a man of many contradictions, understood this. The continuation of too many situations and actions proved this statement to be false.
We have no understanding of what true freedom is and neither did Lincoln. Our government is not about freedom, especially not today, and not at any time in our history. It may be necessary and good, but it is not based on universal freedom.
Our principles that guide our actions and judgments are based more in personal ownership and majority rule rather than universal freedom, which, by definition, conflicts with both of those ideas.
Even when applied over the long run, these central precepts of our government still conflict with that ideal. Also over the long run, we are so far removed from true freedom that it is nearly inconceivable.

Maybe all of this writing will inspire me to get my other mindless writings done.

Peace.