Freedom, we have been hearing a lot of people cry “freedom”. Why do people think that by electing a Democrat for President was taking away their freedom? What freedom was taken away? Why would people think that they have more freedom when the Republicans are in power? Those questions have to be asked and I am afraid that there are not real answers. The reason why? Everyone views freedom differently.

Now I Googled the freest countries in the world and I came up with thi we are not even in the top ten. The land of the free and the home of the brave are not even in the Top Ten? This can’t be true but yet I believe it is.

Now there are a number of things that I believe give us freedom and I will use what I believe because I know that other people will believe differently. I like the freedom of mobility. President Eisenhower gave us the interstate which made it much easier to get around this beautiful country of ours. All of a sudden the masses could drive to all the wonderful places that were only easily accessible by train. If fact, you could go places were trains didn’t take you either. I remember as a kid taking 3 days to get to the Black Hills from Kenosha WI on a camping trip with my family. With the interstate you can do it in one day. In less than one century we went from taking months to move your family across this country to days. Now that is real mobility. That is real freedom. Freedom that a few generations not so long ago didn’t have. Now airplane travel is just hours but it was the interstate that had the greatest impact. Now a lot who read this posting will have always had the interstate and take it for granted. The Eisenhower administration changed this country forever and enhanced that freedom of everyone.

Now I am retired. When I retired I had to sign up for Medicare. Now I had been paying into Medicare all my working life so I know it is something I have earned. It is not something that is just given to me by the government, it is something that I had paid into and earned. One thing I didn’t realize was the freedom that it would give me. Here again the freedom of mobility. My wife and I packed our bags and said goodbye to winter forever. We moved to Florida. Guess what? Our healthcare moved right with us. Here again that is real freedom. That started me thinking, and to those that have been following me know that is a dangerous thing. What would happen if we had Medicare for all? Now I can already hear some people grumbling that most haven’t earned it like I have. You are right to a point, but sometimes we have to change. Healthcare for all would give everyone the same freedom that I have now. You would be free to leave that dead end job that you are working at only because you need healthcare for your family. You would no longer be a slave to your employer.  You would be free to pursue your dreams. Employers may actually have to pay you what you are worth to be able to keep you. It may actually help retain jobs because employers I think are getting tired of paying for your healthcare. By the way Healthcare is one of the things that most of The Freest Countries had in common.

Being able to carry a gun and being able to intimidate people is not freedom. The insurrection was not an exercise of freedom. Fascism has never been a system of freedom for all. Freedom is the ability to live your life on your own terms as long as it doesn’t infringe on other people’s freedom.

An article on the USA Today web site list the top 5 right/freedoms Americans feel are most threatened. . The next few posting I am going to give my opinions of those concerns so stay tuned.