the hollow statue

One of America's greatest blessings is its love of freedom and liberty. Indeed, this great country was founded upon freedom and independence from its motherland. At the same time, I'm beginning to think that this liberty has become one of America's greatest curses. Liberty seems to have shifted from a means to an end in itself.

We are told to live as "free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice." But that's exactly what is happening. Evil has put on the cloak of liberty, and the guise seems to be working very well. People are using liberty as an excuse to advance whatever ulterior motives they have--and the general American population buys it willingly.

But to what end? What is backwards is now called right, and what is crooked is now straight. Evil is cloaked in the word "choice." It has gotten to the point where we can now take another's life because sustaining that life would be "too expensive." But who am I to tell you what to do? It's your freedom.

It's _____'s way now
There is no way out
You can scream and you can shout
It is too late now
Because

YOU HAVE NOT BEEN PAYING ATTENTION.

all eyes on you

There are one of two things you probably want to do right now. You either want to:

1. get drunk and celebrate; or
   
2. get drunk and forget.
   

Obama won, get over it. But the question becomes, "what now?" I'm sorry to break it to you, but come January 2009, not very much will change. The sky won't rain gold, but it won't fall down either. Once this popularity contest settles down, the two extremes -- I hope -- will come back to the middle. Then the real fun begins -- we'll finally get to see what our new president actually stands for.

The problem today is that we put our faith in people. We have shifted from putting our faith in things above to putting our faith in those among us who promise the world. As I saw all the young liberals in Obama's crowd who were moved to tears by Obama's win, I couldn't help but think of how naive and bright-eyed they must be. They are convinced that "change" is right around the corner. They hold hopelessly optimistic dreams -- that health care will be free to everyone; that poverty will disappear; that liberty will be given the highest priority. These educated but inexperienced young people have so much heart and passion. Too bad they can't see that it's often not in the right place.

why america's youth love obama

Here's an important question: if one were to run an ad that encouraged the youth to vote, whose cause would it help? It is becoming increasingly clear that the liberals will overwhelmingly reap the benefits of a youthful vote.

Today's youth is bombarded with ultra-liberal views from a pre-pubescent age. I would have no problem with it if people were actually given a neutral set of choices, debated and discussed it, and chose a stance. Instead what we see are children being taught from a very young age that one's rights are more important than what's right. If it feels right, do it, so long as it comports with some vague societal standard that shifts from one generation to the next. The problem with blind liberalism, then, is not simply that there's no moral compass, it is that most adherents can't see why they even need one in the first place.

Liberalism is concerned with rights at the cost of morality. The liberal is constantly worried about his rights being infringed upon, never for a moment examining whether enforcing his right is the moral thing to do. He'll do anything to get what's fair, but maybe that's not what he really needs. Besides, who's moral values, and what moral values are we supposed to enforce in a secular society? The religious person is ready with an answer, but I often wonder what the agnostic/atheist has to say about morality. I would tell that person to look within himself to find the answer, but I'd be afraid that they have never thought about it seriously enough to give an answer.

The problem, then, is that these people often give the appearance of intelligence, societal progressivism, and elitism. Yet it's all an empty shell; nothing is holding up those beliefs other than self-interest. A conservative is criticized for being stagnant and for going against social progress. True, some conservatives may be very close-minded. But a true conservative will do not what is popular by today's standards, but by what is right under some form of objective moral guidepost that won't change in 10 years.

I pray that those well-educated conservatives can offer their views upon today's increasingly one-sided society so that at the very least, liberals can be given the chance to make an educated decision between at least two viable alternatives.