The Price You Gotta Pay

Ever hear the expression “freedom isn’t free”? Well, my fellow Americans…it’s the truth. And that expression doesn’t just apply to the brave men and women overseas and around the world courageously putting their lives at risk on the front lines of war every day for our freedom. It doesn’t just apply to our heroic veterans of past, present and future who have served and will serve their country with great pride. And it doesn’t just apply to our fallen soldiers who have paid the ultimate price by sacrificing their lives to provide better ones for us…God bless their souls.

No, that expression applies to every single person who calls themselves an American. Nobody is exempt. We, as citizens of the United States of America-a free country-have an obligation to pay for that freedom. There are prices that we must pay to be able to do and say whatever we want, whenever we want to do and say it. There are prices for living free. And just like the prices of goods and products we need on a daily basis to survive change, and go up or down, so do the prices of living free. And we have a responsibility to pay the prices set by the people that we elect to determine those costs. (Yes, the people that we elect. We elect officials to look out for our best interest. We elect the people to do what is necessary to keep us and our freedom safe. We elect our government.)

Now, some people might not like the prices that have to be paid or the changes that have to be made to those prices or the politicians making all of those decisions-people certainly don’t like paying $3.50 for a gallon of gas, or being told where they can and can’t smoke cigarettes, or that the NSA monitors internet activity to potentially keep us safe from terrorism and other threats, or that when two people love each other they should be able to get married regardless of their gender, or the fact that the government is forcing them to buy health insurance because it is economically responsible to do so and will also keep insurance companies from driving up cost, dropping your coverage when you need it the most and worst of all, flat out screwing-over the elderly and the chronically sick, or that strict universal back round checks should be performed on ALL firearm sales to keep violent weapons out of the hands of criminals, the mentally challenged, the clinically insane and innocent children who just don’t know any better, or the fact that there are certain firearms out there that should be illegal to buy, period, or that their taxes go up on a yearly basis, or the fact that the United States has to “police” the world to ensure homeland security-but it is every Americans responsibility to pay for those rights of freedom, whether they accept the responsibility or not. Do you think members of our military like being targeted and shot at every single day? No, but they do it anyway because they understand that it has to be done.

If you don’t like the way things are then you have the ability to get involved and make a change. That’s what makes America great. That’s what freedom really is. When all you do is argue and disagree, in a non-productive way, with everything the government decides is best for you and your fellow citizens, that’s when you hurt our country, give us a bad name and put our freedom in jeopardy. Until Americans realize the government isn’t trying to take our freedom away from us, they’re trying to preserve it for our children, our young and our youth-the future leaders of the world-then none of us will truly be able to prosper in all the glories of what freedom really is and what freedom really stands for. It’s the price you gotta pay.