Lady Liberty's Black Eye
Since October 28th 1886 Lady Liberty has been gracing Ellis Island. The tablet which the Statue holds in her left hand reads (in Roman numerals) "July 4th, 1776." Emma Lazarus wrote the poem 'The New Colossus' which adorns this great monument to freedom.
She once stood for freedom and liberty for millions who have braved the cold, dark Atlantic to escape persecution of tyrannical governments. They found her waiting to give them hope, hope that they too will enjoy the fruits of liberty. She is definitely a symbol of the people and the ideals of freedom, not of the government. Lately she has been taking a bruising and like a battered woman she keeps coming back for more, because she knows no other way to live. She would do well to learn from the feminist movement. After all aren't they the ones that stress that a woman should be independent? Instead we enact laws that prohibit the very liberty that she stands for. We have an out of control, bloated government that every day sees yet more abuse of its power against the freedom of its citizens. Benjamin Franklin's famous quote "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." is sometimes no more than meaningless words. Every day we pass laws that are designed to give us a sense of security. The security, however, is false and only leads to a restriction of liberty. In recent years we have enacted laws after tragedies such as the crash of TWA flight 800, where we quickly enacted anti-terrorist laws to protect us at airports. A year later the report was released that there was no terrorist involvement, but the laws were not rescinded. We lose many of our freedoms guaranteed by the Bill of Rights to the War on Drugs. Illegal search and seizures and no knock raids are considered normal and necessary to fight this war. The list of government abuse in the name of providing security is long , hard and detrimental to Liberty! A tear can be seen running down her cheek. There are many other types of security which we give up essential liberty for. One is economic security. Yes, the Lady stands for Independence and Liberty, yet we have become more and more dependent on foreign nations for our existence. We have given up Independence for the convenience of purchasing goods at low prices made by people who only dream of her message. When we the people should stand up and say enough is enough we only cower and beg for forgiveness to keep our economy in check. The most recent incident was committed by the Communist Chinese. They kept hostage some of our military personnel, smacked that Lady right in the eyes and she, like a dysfunctional battered wife came back and gave the message that it was all right. She will, like most women in an abusive situation will find herself in denial, pretending the despicable relationship is not really that bad. She will look the other way. There are so many excuses for staying in an abusive relationship. It won't happen again. They will change. If only I treat them with more respect. It must be something I have done. The list goes on and on. Anyone who has worked with battered women will tell you how it makes no sense that these women go back time after time thinking it will be different only to wind up beaten once again. Each time gets progressively worse. It is time for the Grand Lady, the world's greatest symbol of freedom to stand up and say no more. Like the battered woman, the United States has become dependent on the lure of cheap goods made by slave labor and has been lured into the false pretense that the government can protect us. Like that battered wife, we know it will be hard to leave the security of being taken care of. It will be a hard row to hoe. There will be uncertainty along the way and at times the path will seem dark and fruitless. Freedom is not free!
There is no better time to rid ourselves of the shackles of economic security then now. When will be a better time? Perhaps after she has been beaten to a pulp and dying seems like a good alternative. I say to you Lady Liberty, beacon of light to the world, hold your torch high and show once again the reason that so many immigrants have sought shelter in your shadow, lest we find it necessary to replace your guiding torch with binding shackles The Statue of Liberty was presented to the United States to honor our independence. The Declaration of Independence concludes with this statement by our Founding Fathers “And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.” Today we support the declaration so long as it does not inconvenience us or we have to spend too much of our after-tax dollars. Sooner or later, like the battered woman, we will come to the conclusion that remaining in our desperate situation is far worse than the fear of facing the unknown future. We can only hope that that day will come soon.
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The fortitude and resolve of the American people is tested from time to time and always we have shown that we can overcome. We need to remove the heavy burden of government regulations off of the backs of the citizens so that we can compete.