An all-purpose artice for your consideration, written by Shonda Ponder titled "This is America":
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It seems like just yesterday that discussions were taking place about whether or not a bill would pass that would make convenience store clerks guilty of a crime for failing to I-D someone who was below drinking age, and/or allowing them to get out the door with alcohol. I can still remember my friends saying, "Don't worry. That will never pass. It will never be made a law. This is America!" A short 10 years later I found myself in jail for that very crime--guilty of not paying attention.
It's funny how so much can change in a decade.
I decided, rather than to live in fear, that I would stay at home and keep kids. Heck, I stood to make just as much money keeping three children as I did working at a convenience store for slave wages. I was told that I would not have to have a CPS person inspect my home every month if I didn't keep more than three, and then I found out that if those three children were not kin to me, that I had to pay a $20 fee in order to obtain a permit just be a babysitter! Something I used to do as a kid for extra money!
A short five months later, I get a knock on my door from my local CPS agent who wishes to follow up on a nosy neighbor's complaint. Unable to find anything wrong after inspecting my home, and finding that I was in complete compliance with all the laws, and that I could easily pass inspection should I wish to become a registered caregiver, she asked me why I chose not to do so. My answer?
"Because I don't want YOU in my house." Nothing personal, of course.
I quickly shed that little hobby and went into working fast food, where no TABC permit or home-inspections were required, and tried to return to being the good slave that I am, with as much control over my own life as I could wring out of it all.
So many people had told me, that this would never happen. That store owners would never go to jail for their customer's crimes. People would never have to have the government come into their homes because there are children there that are not kin to you that you care for while their parents try to be good citizens. You would never have to give up your right to own a gun of your choice as long as you were a law-abiding citizen, and being law-abiding would never mean forfeiture of any of your rights.
This is America, where you can say what you want, and not get arrested, and you and your friends can dress in matching shirts and not worry that the police will confront you, suspecting you of gang activity. You will never be thrown out of school for having a Bible in your car. And, here in America, you will never have to go to the office to pick up a pink slip before you can take your child home from school.
Things like that will never happen in this Country.
Right?
So much has changed in just 10 years.
We are so lucky to live in this great land as citizens of the most free Country on Earth. And, because we are so free, our freedom is a Right. Right? We will never have to worry about what we say, or how we think, or what opinions we might have because it is our right to have them, according to the First Amendment of the Constitution. And, Dunbar in Texas will never get that bill passed that says that, in order to have a bumpersticker that supports a candidate on your car, you have to sign an affidavit with the State swearing that you are not trying to sway anyone else's opinion.
People will always be able to support their candidates through campaign donations, because it is only fair that those candidates who are not millionaires have some way of advertising his candidacy so he may compete with the more wealthy candidate who could possibly afford to pay for his own campaign.
Right?
Recently, in London, the police raided a lot of homes and arrested about one-hundred people for SUSPECTED HATE CRIME-- some of them simply for owning a website that spoke against the status quo. It really happened!
But, not here. It will never come here. Hate crime has gone as far as it can go without that ever happening. Any other legislation would be dangerous to our freedom as Americans. Our First Amendment is at stake here! So, nah, it will never, ever happen here.
Will it?
In ten years from now, what will we have left of freedom if things keep going at this pace? Is the People's Republic of China really a Republic?
This is America. We have compromised, justified, and politicized everything about our way of life. It's time to stop. It's time to become We the People and take our role AS the government once again. It is time, America, to start acting like Americans and quit allowing the Socialist Liberals to dictate our way of life. Much damage has already been done.
Our children are shooting each other in schools, and parents are getting ticketed, fined and even having their children taken from them for failure to show up in government sponsored training camps on time. Our Churches have become pulpits of lies and deceit for fear of losing money. People are afraid to help each other due to the secular, me-first mindset which induces back-biting and paranoia. And, in order to treat the symptoms of a sick society, the government passes more and more laws that restrict our freedoms and oppress our souls.
Everyone knows the cause, but no one has the guts to tackle the problem, for fear of having to actually work for what they get. For some reason, people tend to think that Freedom means the right to be Lazy. I've actually been reprimanded at a few of my jobs in the past for working too hard!
What happened in London will never happen here. The British tried to do that here before, and it didn't work. Someone ended up firing a shot that changed the course of World history.
What we are enduring today at the hands of our own government is far more oppressive than our founding fathers had to endure, yet we are Americans. And, because we are Americans, we will always live in peace. There will never be another war on our own soil. There will never be anyone raiding our homes, and if we just keep giving, maybe one day our Government will find a way to feed, clothe and control us all.
We the people have lost control already.
Welcome to America, where you can be anything you want; do anything you want; say anything you want; dare to dream--as long as you show your papers to the proper city, county, state, and federal officials when they demand it. Don't forget to register your travelling, hunting, and occupational tools before you use them. Enjoy the good life. And, never, ever forget:
This is America! The Freest nation on the face of the earth!
Shonda Ponder
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Thought for the Day:
"Time goes, you say? Ah no. Alas, time stays, we go."
Henry Austin Dobson