The Last Liberty?

By William D. Zeranski

We've reach a point in the political and economic life of America where nearly all liberties have been infringed upon. Political correctness and multiculturalism have a choke hold on the freedom of speech in the classroom and in the public square, aided and abetted by those in government, MSM and academia. Laws and government regulations put the citizens' ownership of property at the mercy of unelected officials. Basic constitutional rights which, at one time, were considered unassailable are now under constant assault.

So what is really left? What is that final freedom that allowed the early American to cross rivers and mountains, plant fields of wheat in the Great Plains, and go north to Alaska? That last liberty is the freedom of movement. And I don't mean the walk to the neighbor's house or the bike ride around the block, or the sometimes laborious drive to work, but the freedom to go here and go there.

Think of all the nations in the world where going here or there is not an option; there is no choice in the matter. Well, after a fashion, all Americans finally stand at the same threshold, simply because of the price of a gallon of gasoline. There are many Americans, in government and ordinary citizens, who accept, even promote the idea of nationalizing American refineries.

In a land where government controls great swaths of the North American continent and covets the refineries needed to produce the fuel to travel what is left, there is no freedom of movement. As always, there is a greater invitation for the continual erosion of what freedom remains.

A 19^th century American by the name of Charles M. Russell has been credited with say: "Guard, protect and cherish your land, for there is no afterlife for a place that started out as Heaven." He is right because he saw the land, painted it, and wrote about it because he could travel it.

Fuel, not only makes the American economy go and grow, it allows 21^st century Americans to go from here to there, to see and to do, because Heaven is not a cage.