The Freedom Culture:
1. The Freedom Culture
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Thanks for signing on. I’m Bob Carkhuff, “The True Voice of Freedom.†And this is Freedomblog.com
The theme for today is The Freedom Culture
For thinking people, this means that the way we relate, the way we engage in economic enterprise, and the way we participate in governance leads to the U.S. becoming the most peaceful, prosperous, and participative nation in the history of the world. And this is precisely the theme of this series, The Freedom Culture—The Mission of America.
We had occasion recently to participate in a funeral celebration of life for an octogenarian. On the one side of this great grandmother’s family was a homogeneous group of second generation European immigrants. On the other side was a heterogeneous group descended from two generations of adoptions from black and Hispanic migrants. Together, the extended family had a diversity of appearance and experience.
The first things that one noticed were the relationships of these diverse groups. Clearly, this relating led to collaboration that yielded peaceful relations in their extended families.
The next things that one observed were the competencies of the members of these diverse groups. Clearly, these competencies had led to the confidence that yielded extended prosperous entrepreneurial initiatives.
The last things that one heard were their conversational representations of their interests in the community and governance. Clearly, this assertiveness led to participation in government relations.
All of the family members in the extended families were proud of their achievements. All rationalized their performances with tales of ancestral performance that accounted for their human potential.
None acknowledged that what made them truly effective—relating, enterprising, participating—was the American experience:
- Cultural relating that led to Peace!
- Free enterprise that led to Prosperity!
- Direct governance that led to Participation!
Peace, Prosperity, Participation! These are the functions of the American vision of civilization. They change forever everyone whom they embrace. They constitute the ingredients of The Freedom Culture.
Signing off for Freedomblog, this is Bob Carkhuff, “The True Voice of Freedom.â€
Remember, people, we are free who believe we are free.
We invite your comments. Send to Bob at Freedomblog.com.
“May the road rise to meet you,
And the wind be at your back.â€
July 15th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
Dear Bob,
Blog Comment – 7/15/07
Your identification of the ingredients of cultural relating, free enterprise, and direct governance truly provide us with the capacity to move toward peace, prosperity, and participation.
I contrast that prospect with our historical and current collective experience that has unfolded as a result of our assumptions about the definitions of freedom and culture. As we have “advanced” as a nation we have done so in spite of the significant constraint we impose on ourselves with assuming a definition of freedom to be only “the absence of constraint.” Such a definition, lacking any effort on our part to meaningfully define freedom, remains as our “default” definition of freedom.
As citizens in this default status we react to others with relation to fulfilling our own needs, motives, or agendas. Our culture or cultures emerge as a network of our collective efforts to satisfy our self-interests and where possible to establish “agreements” to support our mutual self- serving efforts. In reality, our cultures impose on us the conditions of constraint from which we believe we are removed because of our assumptions about freedom.
With a definition of freedom as the capacity for “unfettered” thinking we have the extraordinary opportunity and means to create our own new cultures that are responsive to and supportive of the mysteries and wonders of human potential in service to human kind.
Thank you.
George Banks
July 26th, 2007 at 2:22 pm
Dear Bob,