When Freedom's Free

Democracy's Drain

We don’t need to do anything for ourselves, so we focus on fun.

The hired service replaced the live-in handyman for the electrical and plumbing. They landscape yards, swaps out toilets, and even assembles furniture delivered to your door.

No need to make clothes. The global economy brings them cheap. We don’t need to prepare or preserve food, when the chemicals taste so good.
We have time to preserve our glory-day bodies instead.

We’ve got same-day delivery and instant messaging. We can work from anywhere.
No hardships to suffer. Effortless self-actualization. Become our true selves.

The experience matters more than performance, so any mountain is high enough. The stickers, trophies, Facebook walls, Instagram hearts, and inflated grades prove it.

Common good? I’m good. McMansions and Audis and private schools are good.

We can’t wait our turn. We cut in line and look the other way or through tinted glass to avoid prying eyes into windows to our souls.

Heads down -- thumbs busy -- in meetings, during meals and conversations. Unnecessary chimes in quiet parks and libraries.

We no-show to the doctor's appointment, so someone in need waits another day.

We get caught up. If everyone has it, we want it too. Liberty means we can do what we want. Just don't get caught. Right?

Mass customization of ethics and morality: religion to celebrate our unrestrained, ever-lasting longings. A judging god's no good. We want one who's there for our touchdowns, not our road rage -- unless we pulled the trigger.

Virtue, modesty, and temperance sit tarnished behind the trophy case glass. Impractical relics that don't make money or excite a crowd.

We don’t know the tears of lost, loved blood who died for democracy.
No faith in wisdom or intelligence. We drag out famous dead examples to feel like we share something with them.

We aren’t afraid of what we can't see: the silent, creeping control by the few while we amuse ourselves to the tyrants tune.
We amuse ourselves while we give away democracy.