On Liberty

              Perhaps liberals love affair with public transportation, high-density housing and urban development will be seen in a different light once all the COVID-19 lock-downs are ended. At least in the United States, and assuming they ever do end, as “experts” seem to be continually extending the time they say is necessary to keep them in place. (A new report from Harvard researchers says that these measures may be necessary until 2022.)

             Cramming myself into a New York subway and hanging onto a strap while others lurch (and belch and sneeze) around me isn’t my cup of tea, nor is getting funneled thru an airport and fondled by TSA employees for the privilege of flying in an elongated, motorized cigar tube with 75 strangers to get to another airport where we all wait for our luggage to return to us. Neither am I fond of being carted around in a city bus with my seatmate falling asleep and leaning into me, shortly after he has apparently consumed a meal containing prodigious amounts of garlic and washed it down with a similar quantity of alcohol.

I am personally averse to being housed in massive, urban, multi-family developments, be they low and sprawling or towering 30 or more stories into the sky.  Moreover, since I have claustrophobia, I have never enjoyed riding in a packed elevator, staring at my own feet and listening to bad Muzak, and that will be even more the case in the future.

If you like dense urban environments and public transportation, more power to you. Honestly, that is your right. But, our officials, elected or otherwise, do not have the right to strip the rest of us of all our liberties. They have no right to tell us we can never leave our homes. In perpetuity. They should not be allowed to tell us where (or how) we should live. Or how we should get there. Or if and when we can attend weddings and funerals. Or worship our God.

So, as for me, give me liberty and give me breath. God willing, I will take to the open road in my own vehicle-- perhaps heading from my decadent, if modest, single family home—and head out across the vast American West, whether it be on Route 66, across “Big Sky Country” (Montana), or to visit the Black Hills and Mount Rushmore.

By the grace of God, Washington and Jefferson bestowed upon us our freedoms. Lincoln preserved and enhanced them. No modern-day politician-- or group thereof—can be allowed to take back what they have bequeathed us.

Democrats, Socialists and Chinese Communist Party members, listen up. We shall be free. Or die trying to once again make it so.