Voices

Every once in a while you run across a bit of news that makes you stop and smile... not that this world isn't as mixed up as ever, but for a moment you can feel like everything is moving in the right direction. Students at Wilton High School in Wilton, CT had written a play, entitled Voices in Conflict, about the Iraq war featuring first-person accounts of soldiers serving there. Predictably, the play had upset some members of the community and school officials banned them from performing it, despite the students' attempts to revise the script to address the presented concerns. Nonetheless, the students were able to perform at an off-Broadway theatre in New York City, before a standing room only audience.

My point isn't to rant about the war -- regardless of my personal views, I understand that reasonable people can come to a variety of conclusions on the subject. I can also understand why families with brothers, sisters, sons and daughters serving in Iraq would have a tough time swallowing this. At the same time, I'm encouraged that a group of young people who were trying to give a voice to those they felt weren't being heard were able to find a voice of their own... despite the attempts to squelch them. Instead of merely accepting what other people told them to think about a controversial subject -- whether those voices were in support or against, they went out, explored the issue and formed their own opinions... and that is a very encouraging thing.

Vote Freedom First?

Have you ever driven around and seen the guys driving pickup trucks with "Vote Freedom First" bumperstickers? Apparently that motto only applies to gun control these days. Amid President Bush's warrentless wiretaps and the so-called "Patriot Act," it seems like conservatives are eager for us to give up our freedoms for the sake of the "war on terror." Newt Gingrich is the latest in this lineup -- arguing that freedom of speech must give way to fighting terrorism. "We need to get ahead of the curve before we actually lose a city, which I think could happen in the next decade." Apparently, we need a "different set of rules" to prevent terrorists using the Internet.

This is a pretty scary road that the right is going down -- while they look to Reagan and Goldwater as their predecessors, they've abandoned their legacies. As Reagan once said, "You and I are told increasingly that we have to choose between a left or right, but I would like to suggest that there is no such thing as a left or right. There is only an up or down— up to a man's age-old dream; the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and order— or down to the ant heap totalitarianism, and regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would trade our freedom for security have embarked on this downward course." Who's leading us to the downward slope now?