This weekend was the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11^th WTC attack, and the first time I’ve spent that fateful day outside of the United States. It was a little strange, because here in Russia there were no memorials, no presidential speech, nothing to distinguish it from any other day. But I thought about it, of course. And in this country, where the media isn’t free, and the people are technically ‘free’ but sometimes seem far from it, the importance of the notion of collective freedom, and what it all means- takes on a different perspective.

What is it that I’m failing to perceive in the current ‘tea party’ hysterics of American political discourse? A sense of fearlessness. So much reactionary activity seems to be motivated only by fear. Everyone who came to America was courageous (and many were murderous & empirical, but that’s a whole other tangent the Native Americans know all too well). The first wave of settlers knew what they were doing was dangerous, perhaps deadly, but they came anyway, in search of a better existence than the one they knew before. And perhaps the most important thing to remember… they came in search of religious freedom. That fact makes this current wave of anti-Muslim, Quran burning hysteria even more sad and pathetic. America is not a country that should be afraid of anything, LEAST OF ALL people attempting to worship the God of their choosing, wherever they choose to do so. I love my country, now more than ever before. Being in Russia for just a few months has proven that to me. But it is extremely sad to watch certain segments of America cower in the shadow of an idea- this idea that the more ‘foreign’ we let America become, thru religious & cultural osmosis, immigration, etc., the less ‘safe’ we become. With the exception of Native Americans, we were ALL foreigners at one point in time. And the first thing that should be an undisputed truth to anyone who considers themselves “pro-America” should be freedom of religion. Cut-and-dried, no questions asked. Worship is personal, NOT political. And yet, the same nutjobs who wrap themselves up in flags & wear stupid-ass Paul Revere hats with tea bags taped to the brim are the ones who hold the signs saying things like “Islam- religion of evil”. I know their response: “Well, didn’t you see their signs saying ‘death to America’ & the flag-burning videos?” Yes, I did, and it’s equally abhorrent. All extremism is disgusting, no matter who the perpetrators are. But the difference is- they hate us BECAUSE of the freedoms we have as a society, and if we react by stripping freedoms away from certain groups we become more like them. Pure and simple. The tea-bagger is much CLOSER in ideology to the Islamic terrorist than I am, even though you’d never get him to admit it in a million years. He’d simply wrap himself in his magical flag-cape and proclaim himself to be a true patriot, without even beginning to comprehend the concepts that thousands of Americans have died to protect.

If you believe in freedom you go ALL-IN with freedom, not freedom sometimes for certain groups. ALL FREEDOM, ALL THE TIME. That’s the America I want to live in. Freedom for anyone to marry. Freedom for anyone to worship as they want. Freedom from FEAR, instead of fear of freedom.

- Patrick Buchanan