“Okay guys, one more thing, this summer when you’re being inundated with all this American bicentennial Fourth Of July brouhaha, don’t forget what you’re celebrating, and that’s the fact that a bunch of slave-owning, aristocratic, white males didn’t want to pay their taxes.”

- Ms. Ginny Stroud, Dazed and Confused

Well, like most things that end in fighting it was more that money and taxes that lead to independence in America.

We are celebrating the time when we drove outside foreign influence from our lands. We are not celebrating being perfect, only being able to choose our own destiny. But, for a lot of people feel that the idea of the 4th of July is also about our personal freedom. An individual right to “pursue happiness” and attain the “American Dream”.

What About Your Independence?

The America Dream means different things to different people. For some people it is all just the mythical apple pie, baseball and muscle cars. Most people, if pressed, would say it is about freedom.

Are You Free?

I am celebrating the 4th of July by thinking about the question “Am I Truly Free?”. It is one thing to say you live in a “free country” – whatever that means – but it is another to actually be free of foreign influence. In today’s world though foreign influence can come in a few different forms in your daily life: your boss, “Human Resources”, the drinking age, freedom to smoke at a bar, drug addiction, choice of drugs, social pressure, being stuck in a job because of health insurance, money and the list goes on.

If you are not paying attention – you may not be free at all. Even if you live in a free country. The real enemy of freedom is the status quote and just doing what you are told or what most people think is safe. Not that rules are bad, but blindly living your life can be.

The Other Side of the Coin has Guns On It

For myself, I want to be free by living on my own terms. I bring the battle to my work life – my personal independence day was in last November when I quite my job to live by my own means. But, it is hard – freedom from work comes at a price and every day brings its own risk.

You have to fight!

Like the soldiers that have fought for our nation’s independence over the past few hundred years you will need to fight to be free. In a a lot of ways, you owe it to our founding fathers, our soldiers and even your kids to fight to be free. The fight does not end on Independence Day – it starts.

What is Your Fight? Are You Free?

I want to know want your freedom fight is – what foreign influence do you want to throw off so that you can be truly free? Comment below!

I’m from the UK so not sure I can comment as I am part of that “foreign influence”. Ironically though most people in the UK now view the relationship in opposite terms – they don’t like the way all our governments essentially capitulate to the US “foreign influence”.

Anyway that’s a discussion for another day. So the question is whether I am free? I guess I am about as free as you can be in the UK. I work for myself. I work my own hours and I work from home. Therefore I am not tracked by the 1000s of CCT cameras they have on the roads, trains and bus networks. I am not controlled by middle management and made to do anything I don’t want to do.

BUT I do have to abide by our countries laws and not all of them are good. For example, I could be arrested and detained for 28 days with no reason under the terrorism act (I am not a terrorist BTW). I have no influence over our governments current approach to beating the recession and the fact that my children and grand children (when they are born) will grow up in a country of debt.

So am I free? Yes but I am also controlled. Is there a difference? I’m not sure.

BTW My current fight is with Apple’s iPhone review policy and their lack of transparency, inconsistency and communication!.

@wuf810 – yeah, I was really just trying to make a point about the foreign influence thing – that is something for people in positions of power far greater than my own to worry about.

One revolution that would be nice is one against these Apple review policys – def agree with that. In a lot of ways it is their game, but when its your business as well it is very difficult to deal with the things you mention. As a point – b/c of Apple’s recent software upgrade one of my apps started having issues. It took TWO WEEKS for Apple to approve my update. So, my customers who were affected were stuck with bugs for two weeks longer than they should have – my company gets the blame and there is nothing that I can do for it…

So, I guess I am in your boat – I do not have a boss but there are many many things out there that are affecting or otherwise controlling me as well. Although, no cameras in the streets yet.

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