Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas
If we lose freedom of speech, it’s never coming back. Elon Musk
What does a free and open society mean? When is it free enough and open enough? How do we square the views of, “No one is illegal” with “Close the borders?”
Somewhere in the middle of those two sentiments is where we should probably be. We need to find the common ground between the left and the right, the compassionate and the harsh. Neither extreme leads to good results.
Overreacting to horrific things that happen in society does not improve that society. Building a good society is never finished, we are always in the process of making it better or making it worse. We won’t all agree on what will make it better or what will make it worse, but can we agree on general principles that it isn’t getting better when more and more people don’t have a place to live or enough to eat?
Some people think controlling prices will make food cheaper. I worry it will make producers quit producing, stores shut down, and we will have less food for more people, instead of cheaper food. Each country has to figure out how to sustain its population, and I believe have a right to limit those who want to come to the country especially if they have problems housing or feeding the people already in the country. This seems like common sense to me, and I don’t think telling someone who doesn’t have a place to live or food to eat they should be more compassionate, and tighten their belt even tighter, seems right.
Do desperate people who get in boats or on planes have a right to go to any country they want to? When they land on our shore do we have to accept them? It might be a lovely thought, and even a compassionate thought to say, “No one is illegal,” but what are the ramifications of that? What if everyone in Canada decided they had to live in the best place in Canada, we might not all agree on where that would be, but I think we would all agree that 40 million people moving to one location would overwhelm the infrastructure, services, food and housing supply, and make the residents already there very unhappy.
My freedom of speech stimulates your freedom to tell me I’m wrong. P.J. O’Rourke
I don’t know what the answers are, and I don’t know how we will deal with challenges that need to be dealt with. But, I don’t think the West can take in all the people that want to come to our shores. Many people in the West are complaining that life isn’t as good for them as it used to be. Often I think we long for nostalgia that never was, we minimize the challenges and glorify the successes of the past.
We will always face challenges, make mistakes, misjudge people’s actions and motives, and worry about our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren’s futures.
We need to live with rules and laws, we might not all agree on what fair laws are, what a good level of immigration is, and who qualifies as a refugee. We might not agree on who is elected as the government, but once it is decided by the majority of voters, we must live with the decision until our next vote. We should however be able to voice our displeasure at how our government is conducting itself and the decisions it is making, peacefully.
If we can’t talk about what we think is wrong, won’t pressure build up? Isn’t free speech the pressure valve in society? By voicing our concerns we don’t have to get violent to make a point. Free speech has its perils, but silencing free speech might have even more.
Everyone is in favor of free speech. Hardly a day passes without its being extolled, but some people’s idea of it is that they are free to say what they like, but if anyone says anything back, that is an outrage. Winston Churchill
Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech. Silence Dogood, likely pseudonym of Benjamin Franklin
To suppress free speech is a double wrong. It violates the rights of the hearer as well as those of the speaker. Frederick Douglas
Thank you for reading this post. Please come back and read some more. Have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love.
