There is a strong current running through the political
swamps of our country that we Americans know what’s best for everybody on the
planet.
We are now insisting, usually at dollar sign and decimal
point, but often at smart bomb and gun point, that other countries do things our
way. The way of Freedom.
That is, Freedom as we define it.
The Freedom to Incorporate. The Freedom to Codify and
Legalize Bribery. The Freedom to Franchise. The Freedom to Merchandise. The
Freedom to Advertise. The Freedom to Target Demographics. The Freedom to become
consumers rather than citizens. After all, as we have been told so often that
it begins to ring of truth: democracy spreads through commercial trading.
Capitalism is the hallmark of a true Democracy.
No longer is American Democracy burdened with Franklin
Delano Roosevelt’s quaint Four Freedoms (so popular during the naiveté of the first
half of the 1940s):
The
freedom of speech and expression
The
freedom of worship
The
freedom from want
The
freedom from fear
These have all been reinterpreted as the “freedom to trade.”
To the world we proudly announce (at least to those few
places where it’s not already true): America !
Coming soon to a store near you!
!
