Freedom on the Fourth

The fourth of July celebrations, the flags and the parade and the fireworks were as exciting and colorful as ever this year. But there was something missing. What was missing was the feeling of complete freedom which our constitution promised us over 200 years ago.

Through the years we have taken our freedoms for granted but today they are under attack from several directions.

Last week Congress bowed to Administration pressure and defeated an effort to remove one section of the Patriot Act. The Patriot Act is perhaps the most dangerous threat to our freedoms that we have ever had. An effort in the House to amend a section of the act which would ban the government from demanding records from libraries and book stores ended with a 210-210 deadlock. A late burst of lobbying caused eight Republicans to switch votes and the amendment was defeated. Two of the switched votes came from our own state, Marilyn Musgrave and Tom Tancredo. Considering their records, I haven't figured out why they voted for it in the first place, but I am sure they were happy to switch. So libraries and book stores continue to be subject to a demand for their records whenever the government chooses and complete freedom to read and buy whatever we choose is still gone.

Although the constitution is designed to give freedoms, the conservatives are busy trying to remove them. A vote is scheduled this week (as I write this) in the Senate on a proposed Constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. Called the Federal Marriage Amendment it would define marriage as the union of one man and one woman. It goes on to say that "Neither this Constitution or the constitution of any state, nor state or federal law, shall be construed to require that marital status or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon unmarried couples or groups."

Whatever your opinion may be on gay marriage, something so personal and intimate is none of the government's business. It is a social issue which needs to be solved somewhere outside the constitution. Julie Nice, who teaches constitutuional law at the University of Denver School of Law writes, "In the end, today's debate is about whether the nation -- one way or the other -- will uphold its constitutional commitment to liberty and equality for all."

Several times over the years attempts have been made to pass a Flag Burning Amendment to the constitution. They have been consistently defeated. Two highly respected Americans, war heroes Secretary of State Colin Powell and former Senator John Glenn strongly oppose this amendment. Sen. Glenn has warned that, "it would be a hollow victory indeed if we preserved the symbol of freedoms by chopping away at those fundamental freedoms themselves."

And to the man who said he would never go to a show at the Avalon again because they showed "Fahrenheit 9/11" I would quote the Post columnist Gail Schottler, "While the movie itself is Moore's personal agenda, it certainly provides the other side of the Bush war rhetoric. Whether you love it or hate it, it is a "must see" movie for Americans trying to make sense of our current mess."

Ben Franklin said in 1759, in another period when we were fighting for freedom, "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty or safety.

Let's wave the flags and have parades, but all of us have to be involved in the continuing fight for freedom.