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Freedom Festival sends clear message to elected officials

My Thoughts

Dr. Bill Atwood

(Updated: Thursday, July 08, 2010, 12:00 AM)

Last Sunday, July 4, many citizens came to the park in Oakhurst to celebrate being free Americans. There were hundreds of folks of all ages in red, white, and blue cheering the love of liberty that they enjoy every day.

Hundreds of people expressing their concerns about the direction this wonderful nation has been heading these past few years and they were enjoying those First Amendment Rights to speak their minds and to peaceably assemble. Think about that for a few moments. People who are angry about what is happening to them through actions in Sacramento and Washington, D.C., who have gathered to express that frustration and the cops were not needed to protect anyone. It was a peaceful crowd.

The sad fact of the event was that many who needed to hear the messages and to read the few signs were nowhere to be seen. Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and President Obama are certainly not going to schedule a day in the park in Eastern Madera County. The sadder fact is that those three don't send representatives to these sorts of events to listen to the concerns of the average citizen. There were hundreds of festivals all across the United States on that very day and the message should be clear.

People want the government out of every aspect of their daily lives.

People simply want to enjoy the God-given rights that are guaranteed by the Constitution, which seems to be among the need-to-be-read list for many elected officials. They should have read it prior to running for office, certainly have read it after being elected and it would not hurt if they read it a couple of times each year as a reminder of the limits it places upon the government. They really need to read the Bill of Rights.

The elected ones need to remember that we understand the need to tax us so that the government can pay its bills. They also need to remember that taxes should be a nuisance and not a burden. The elected ones need to remember that we really don't need a law or regulation for every possible activity that may or may not occur. Sometimes people get hurt in accidents and sometimes people die as a result of those accidents. Expensive and restrictive regulations drain the economy in the hopes of protecting a handful from an injury.

I chatted with a gentleman at the Freedom Festival about the number of factories being closed down in America and the number of products being manufactured in China. The Chinese are not proving to be great in the quality control end of production; much of it appears to be poorly made. The other concern we shared was that should the United States have to go to war to protect itself, the factories will not be here to manufacture the arms or supplies as they did in past wars.

The people at Freedom Fest simply want to let the government know that they share the original colonists' attitude of "Don't tread on me." The theme nowadays might be, "Leave me alone" but the desire is the same. Most people want to be allowed to pursue life, liberty, and happiness without governmental interference.

Will some find success while others fail? Of course. That is the result of taking risks or making poor choices. Just look around and take notice that the successes far outnumber the failures because hard work and good ethics pay off in a society of free people.

The message was clear in Oakhurst as it was clear across the fruited plains at Freedom Festivals on the Fourth. The people are growing weary of the intrusion of the government into our lives and the people are beginning to take a stand. The elected folks need to understand that the people are not silent but that the administration, the House, and the Senate have grown deaf.

They need to remember that on the greens in little Lexington and Concord there was the "shot heard around the world." Happily it won't be bullets, but ballots.

John Adams and Thomas Jefferson would have been proud of their countrymen on Sunday.