Freedom isn't Free

I’ve had something on my heart for quite some time now, and decided that today was the perfect day to ‘spill my guts’ about this.

We often hear the slogan “freedom isn’t free” in regards to supporting the troops over seas, which I believe to be true and fitting… however, I also see it to be true to our every day freedoms here in America as well. As American citizens we also need to be on our guard; protecting our freedoms here on the ‘home front’ as there are many who want to take those freedoms away from us today!

Let me illustrate with two instances that are very near to my heart… The first, home schooling… just a few months ago a teenager who was being home schooled in California complained to some one that her dad was ‘mean.’ (How many of us never complained that our dad was mean?!) This resulted in an in depth investigation into their lives. No abuse or neglect was found, NONE, but because the judge didn’t agree with home schooling he made a ruling that essentially makes home schooling illegal in California – with a swipe of a pen, the freedom of 1,000’s of families are at risk… all because ONE person didn’t like their way of raising and educating their children. I believe this issue will be resolved, but it just goes to show how fragile the freedoms we take for granted can be. For more info on this you can check this out at (http://www.hslda.org/)

A second, and much more dangerous issue, is a proposal that would end our 1st amendment rights of free speech as we know them today. The FCC (Federal Communication Commission) is considering a proposal (docket # 04-233) that would force every radio station to take programming advice from community advisory boards, representative of an area’s population. That means that Christian broadcast stations could be forced to take advice from people whose values are at odds with what they believe. I know some of you could care less about Christian/Conservative radio and some of you find it hard to believe that this is as bad as it seems… but I’ve done my research on this and found it to be true, and for me terrifying! Imagine a time when K-love would be illegal because they play “positive, encouraging” music? Imagine a time when Dr. Dobson would have to be pro-life and pro-abortion in order to stay on the radio? In response to this there is a proposal in the House of Representatives called the Broadcaster Freedom Act (H.R. 2905; S. 1748). Nancy Pelosi is pushing something else called the ‘Fairness Doctrine’ which is completely unconstitutional (and goes hand in hand with the FCC proposal) and has said that she WILL NOT allow the Broadcaster Freedom Act to even come to a vote… Do you call that freedom? Give me a break!

I can get pretty fired up about things like this and am constantly amazed at the lack of common sense in our society… if you don’t like the music on K-love, if you don’t like Dr. Dobson, etc…turn the station!!! Don’t take away my freedom to be encouraged by it because you don't like it, and I promise I'll give you the same freedom!!

I’ll get off my soap box now… all I ask is that you check these things out for yourself and let your voice be heard… Although I come at these things from my conservative, Christian point of view, it is a matter of freedom for all… Can you imagine a liberal d.j. being told that he’ll have to give equal time to the conservative agenda? It goes both ways (or at least it should!) I just want to remind you to be on your guard, because Freedom isn’t Free and shouldn’t be taken for granted. (For more information you can check this out at any of the following websites… http://www.savechristianradio.com/, www.fcc.gov/, www.aclj.org/

Happy Independence Day!