When I first began to speak out about my political views, I was told that I was brave.
But, then I realized that I lived in a country where I was given rights at birth to speak for or against my government, and that’s when I started raising my eyebrows, because I didn’t really fully understand what people meant when they used the words “brave” or “fearless” to describe me.
The truth is, (and I talk about this a lot), I am very proud to live in this country. (Yes), America has its flaws, and (yes), America has its dark history, but with being born in this country, I already genuinely feel like I have won the lottery.
The truth is, there are people around the world who don’t have the same rights that you (the reader who is reading this right now) or that I do.
I am able to speak out for or against my government.
I can make the decision of where I can go to school.
I am allowed to study any major I choose in University.
I can choose who I marry.
I can make the decision on how many children that I decide to have.
I can read my Bible in public.
I can wear my cross necklace in public.
I am allowed to pray out in public or in my own home.
I can ask questions without fear that I will get sent to prison.
I can protest my government when I feel like it is not serving me.
I have the right to a fair trial in a court of law.
I am innocent before proven guilty.
I don’t have to get a license for traveling out of my city or town or country.
I don’t have to watch buildings around me crumble on the daily, because under Socialism, Communism, (or even Marxism), infrastructure is basically nonexistent.
(And yes, the list goes on and on).
There are people in developing countries who can’t speak out against their government in fear of being executed or having GENERATIONS of their families be executed, sent to prison, or re-education camps or Gulags.
There are people who cannot make the decision to go to school, and they can’t choose their majors at University because of their social class.
There are young girls who are basically auctioned off like cattle to older men in developing countries, and their voices don’t matter, because they are seen by their countries government as “garbage” or “inferior”.
There are people in developing countries who cannot practice their religions and there are people in developing countries who can’t wear religious symbols in their countries out of fear of being killed or imprisoned. (In fact, in some countries around the world, governments ban religious symbols and certain scriptures from their country COMPLETELY).
There are people in developing countries who can’t question the authority in their government without generations of their families getting murdered or sent to re-education camps or Gulags.
In developing countries, you can be shot in the street for protesting your governmnet.
The right to fair trials in certain countries is banned. (But, depending on your social class, maybe you can have some form of trial, if you are lucky of course).
There are people in developing countries who have to travel with a “chaperone” or with a license issued to them by their government.
There are people in developing countries who pray for food or a bowl of rice, or who dig through garbage cans to try and possibly find a decent meal.
And infrastructure in certain countries doesn’t really exist.
I have, (unlike my peers in University or High School) been able to travel out of my country, and I have seen Socialism firsthand.
For my High School graduation trip, I went to the UK on a trip with my mother. While we were in the UK, we visited Northern Ireland, (a geographic location well known for gruesome conflict), and I was shocked by what I saw.
I remember standing on an elevation point in Londonderry and Belfast, and I was in horror by what my tour guide was telling me.
Then predictably in 2015, I then drove through (which in the past) was the Iron Curtain to Prague, Czech Republic. Driving through this past of dark history and despair, I felt nauseous, and my stomach was doing somersaults.
Prague spent 41 years as a Communist state, and I walked through the very areas where the Prague Spring (January 5, 1968- August 21, 1968) occurred.
I remember walking past the Lennon Wall in Prague, while my young tour guide told me about her personal encounters with communism in her country.
The thing that shocked me the most by what she was saying, was that the Lennon Wall was seen as a symbol of peace and hope to her younger generation during a period of dark history in Czech culture.
It also genuinely shocked me that she was so young, telling me her experiences like it was just yesterday.
I get a lot of questions from people who ask me why I fight. The reason is, is that I love my country, and since I have seen true Socialism from traveling outside of the U.S., (unlike my classmates and peers), I don’t want Socialism or Communism to be implemented in this country. My ancestors fled socialism, communism and came to the United States because (to them) it was a beacon of light and freedom in a dark world that we live in filled with hatred, ignorance, intolerance and global conflicts and unrest in places internationally. I have talked on social media with people who live in these awful regimes (such as Iran, and China) and they have told me how lucky I am to be an American, and they told me to never take my rights for granted. I have chatted with people who fled their countries due to political and economic unrest and persecution who get teary eyed when they tell me how scared they are that socialism or communism may be implemented in this country… (they even get teary eyed when they mention how much they SINCERELY LOVE America). And, as I have stated before, because I live in America, I feel like I have already won the lottery, and I want to fight and try and preserve these freedoms for future generations so that they will never have to live through what so many other people in other geographic locations have to unfortunately endure on a daily basis.
If you get nothing else from my Blog or from this post, please try and remember the crushing amounts of equality of misery that people living in socialist countries are genuinely forced to endure.
Please take time and remember that there are so many Americans who WANT socialism to be implemented in the United States, or who would vote for a Socialist, Communist, or a Marxist candidate into office.
This is because, if we lose the intellectual battle on our college campuses or on social media or in our workplaces, and if we lose the culture war, and if socialism or communism wins, we are headed directly for this harsh reality ourselves.