Freedom can only be free, not bought or sold

LETTER - THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

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Ever since returning from Iraq, the stale mantra "freedom isn't free" has rung hollow in my ears.

Used in justifying a military occupation of dubious legality, this unqualified statement is completely devoid of context and totally meaningless. Nothing that I did or saw in the Army increased the freedom of any party involved; in fact, I consider today's military as nothing more than a sad parody of colonialist oppressors.

According to the Declaration of Independence, freedom (namely, life and liberty) is "inherent" and "inalienable." This means that everybody is free, including undocumented immigrants, at the simple price of being born as a human. Nowhere does it say in the Declaration of Independence that freedom costs money, blood, or sacrifice.

The concept of freedom is apparently too abstract for some people to grasp; at its dialectical core is a built-in paradigm which holds life as fundamentally sacred, and liberty as a God-granted right.

Therefore, anyone who tells you that freedom isn't free either doesn't understand the idea, or is trying to rob you of those freedoms.

Freedom can only be free - not earned, not bought and not given by any human.

Evan Knappenberger

Bellingham

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