The Aberration of Autonomy

This and every year we have a day to celebrate our independence -- our independence from so-called tyranny. From preschool on we've been taught to pledge our allegiance to a nation that was founded on the simple principal that its government would be instituted to protect the rights of the people who gave it the right to exist. Therefore, we separated ourselves from a government who exploited us, so we could perserve our freedom, our independence (cue Stars and Stripes Forever or some other inspiring, patriot march-sung-Sousa). Now 232 years in the making (yeah, I did the math), we are a country of independents. In election years, it is the undecided, non-affiliated independents that swing our vote. On the world stage, our tendency toward unilateral policy has given our nation a reputation as a maverick state. For decades upon centuries our sense of independence has evolved into so much more than freedom from authoritarian regimes. We've marginalized morals by allowing exceptions to the rule. Statements of gray pepper every media outlet and water cooler discussion. "Only 5 miles over." "I'll count it as a business expense." "It's only cheating if she finds out." By now, we have declared our independence from everything beginning with posted speed limits, to income taxes, to fidelity, and from unflinching honesty in favor of personal gain. In fact, our entitlement to freedom has given us the audacity to allow the press to report information that damages our national security, and people to march through our streets with swastikas and raised fists, or the interpretation of cruel and unusual punishment to include cold meals and no cable television in prison. So we freely create an environment where our sense of independence can roam, but we screen from view the very things that are suffocating our self-reliance. Independence from what? Foreign oil, disaster relief, farm subsidies, Social Security, falsified income statements, adjustable-rate mortgages? More than ever, we are dependent on everyone but ourselves leaving us to contend with the illusion that we are what we want to be.