I recently had an intense discussion with an Iraq combat veteran, which quickly digressed into a lament over how Americans no longer realize that they need to "earn their freedom." I was struck at how vague this concept is, and I couldn't come up with a reasonable way to decide when someone had or hadn't earned their freedom. If restricted to a simplistic "you must serve in the military" answer, you still have to consider people who spend time cleaning runways or cooking, who never see a battlefield. And what about women, who weren't allowed to serve in the military not so long ago. Did my grandmother not earn her freedom by supporting my grandfather, who fought with the Air Force in WW2? What about people who are not capable of serving in the military? What alternatives do they have to "earn their freedom"?
Is this just a pretty little phrase used to foster a fighting, civic spirit, or does it pose a real question to each and every citizen, to answer in their own way?
2007-03-17 19:24:05 · 7 answers · asked by David 1 in Politics & Government ➔ Military
I don't think that serving in the military is the way to earn your freedom. I do consider it an honorable way, but not the only way.
IMHO, the way to earn your freedom is to vote. When you vote in elections and become active in the process, you keep in touch with the things you should have learned about America when you were in school. You take seriously your duty as an American to support your party, take a stand, and voice, to those you support, your concerns.
With freedoms come responsibility. When people use the phrase, "Freedom isn't free", I don't relate that with the military as much as I do everyday life. Things like doing your jury duty instead of trying to find a way out of it. Taking your freedom of speech seriously by not intruding on others right to the same. Showing respect for other people's right to religious freedom. If you don't have a religion, that's fine. Just leave us that do, alone.
Earn your freedom by being a responsible and productive member of American society.
2007-03-17 19:32:49 · answer #1 · answered by ? 6 · 2⤊ 3⤋
Well, it is a good question. There are those who say 'I'm free to do what I want,' while others insist we have to prove we deserve it. The whole concept was based on giving freedom to people so they would not have to fight for it, but we must defend it in whatever appropriate way we can.
Let's say we have already earned it at birth; when we squander it, it's like gambling your savings away: you've got to fight pretty hard to prove you deserve it again.
2007-03-17 19:38:40 · answer #2 · answered by tiko 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Unless you have served you will never understand the concept of earning your freedom.
The fact of the matter is that - unless you have served - your freedom is nothing more than an unearned gift.
2007-03-18 05:56:48 · answer #3 · answered by MikeGolf 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
We only have those rights we can defend.
And we only have those freedoms we choose to defend.
We earn our freedoms by refusing to allow others to take them away from us. Especially our own government.
2007-03-17 19:53:05 · answer #4 · answered by coragryph 7 · 1⤊ 3⤋
You don't know waht the hell you are talking about. try running red lights and goign 150 on the highway and see what happens. unless you are willing to go out guns blazing against overwhelming odds you don't have freedom.
2007-03-17 19:31:40 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 5⤋
Earning your freedom does not mean attacking a Muslim country for no apparent reason, especially when it means WMD that were never found.
2007-03-17 19:33:14 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 7⤋
by leaving your "neighbor" alone
2007-03-17 19:27:41 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 4⤋