Freedom

The red, white and blue

I'll admit, the gun thing in the U.S. is confusing.  When a person goes berserk and sprays a crowd with lead, who doesn't curse the weapon?  On the other hand, America has spent most of its life poised on the edge of a great and violent wilderness.  Hasn't the right to bear arms contributed to our underlying sense of freedom and individualism? 

As much as I love aesthetic order (and the tidy lay-out of European cities)  I understand that structure also represents control. Its hard to be free and controlled at the same time. It seems that every day Congress enacts new laws and communities script new regulations. Every day the human population increases in number.   And every day, an average of two hundred other species are driven into extinction.

Totalitarianism* as described by Aldous Huxley in "Brave New World" could very well be where we are headed. So relish these days when you can still take a car... or a horse... and ride west without a passport, apply for any job you want, live anywhere within the continent you choose or just stay put and spend every dime you have on branded clothing and restaurant food.  Its all up to you!

*  totalitarianism:  of or relating to a system of government that is centralized and dictatorial and requires complete subservience to the state : a totalitarian regime.