Freedom! That is a word that you hear a lot in the United States. “Freedom” and “Liberty” are the two words what made America different from the rest of the world when we were founded. “Freedom” from tyranny, “Liberties” that were outlined in our Bill of Rights were what we fought for. Do the words like Freedom and Liberty have the same meaning today that they did in 1776? In some cases I think that it means just the opposite. We fought for a representative government. When we started to rebel from British rule what we wanted was in fact a seat at the table. If they would have given us representation and a voice in Parliament our Revolution probably would have not happened when it did. So I am going to say that having a voice in government is a freedom that was very important to our Forefathers. They were not opposed to taxation. What they were opposed to was taxation without representation. In fact “No taxation without Representation” was one of the slogans of the Revolutionists of our pre- independence. With voter suppression like gerrymandering ,making people’s voices not be heard, our freedom of representation is not always there anymore.

I have said that our freedoms and liberties are under attack and the more I read the more that I feel that way. There have always been a certain group of people that wanted to live their lives by a lifestyle what I would call a more nomadic  existence. Today there are people that live on boats or live in motor homes where the only roof over their head is what they are driving at the time. You will see them all over the Country but they are all over the place in the State that I live in which is Florida. Miami Beach as you would expect would be a popular place for these nomadic Americans to come to. It has been reported by the Miami Herald that the City Dock that some boat people used to come ashore and grocery shop at Publix’s has been shut down by the city. These people, what I would say,  amplify the free spirit of this nation but their freedom to work and live on their boats is under attack. Now these boats are legally anchored in the bay but because the city has limited control over the people living on the boats their lifestyle is under attack. Miami Beach is intentionally limiting the access to food and water for these people living on the boats for the simple reason that they do not want them there. . David Suarez a newly elected Miami Beach Commissioner has stated that he is looking for creative ways to discourage people from living on boats. The people that are living free, and, because the Commissioner has limited control he wants them gone. This is what has become of freedom in America. If people really do find a way to live free there are now people that try to take that freedom away. Where are all these freedom loving politicians when people’s actual freedoms are being taken away?  DeSantis acts like he is all about Freedom but this is his state and he is nowhere to seen when freedom is at stake. It is just about a dozen boats so they aren’t worth fighting for? Freedom taken from one, is freedom taken from all. I have a couple of friends that live like modern day nomads and I envy their outlook for life they have. They live on a boat cruising the Bahamas in the winter and live on a boat on the Great Lakes in the summer and haul a trailer traveling on land in between. I envy their freedom.

I understand that we are past the days for the Mountain Man living on his own, trapping furs and being accountable to no one. We no longer have Cowboys roaming the plains, living under the stars and when they need provisions they would ride to a town, tie their horse up to the hitching post in front of the general store and shop. Just because we are past those days doesn’t mean that we should completely abandon those that still try to chase that dream. As a country we need to work at keeping that dream and others of personal freedoms alive. One thing that could help is if we had a healthcare system like Medicare for all.   That would make us freer to move about the country and freer to chase our dream. It was our ability to pick up and move westward to keep on expanding the country that made us great and we have lost our mobility. We have all of kinds of people working at dead end jobs and living just miserable lives because they need healthcare. That is not freedom. I lived that life for over 40 years. Going to work just so I could provide food and healthcare to my family. Working at a job that absolutely hated because I had to. That is not like freedom that is closer to slavery, a slave to a system that does not want you to be truly free anymore. How many mothers could stay at home and take care of their babies if we had a healthcare system that allowed that. Just think of how children would have a better chance for a healthy future if we had a system that truly cared about their health and well being. Healthcare can create freedom for people that I have not seen in my lifetime. Much of the world already knows what that freedom is like and that is one reason we are no longer one of the freest countries in the world. We need a system that will not enslave them to their misery.

Freedom should still be important to all Americas but ours are slipping away. Voter suppression, racial profiling, bigotry, taking away women’s personal rights and White Supremacy are just a few things that are happening all around us that take our freedoms away. But we have also watched the creation of a political system that has stopped working for our freedoms and that is what we have to change at the voting booth before it is too late and all of our freedoms are gone.