Re: John Balentine’s “Do you still desire freedom?”

Mr. Balentine wraps himself in Betsy Ross’ flag and pretends that America didn’t exist until 1776. He waxes nostalgic about laying it all on the line in the face of being hung, drawn, quartered, etc. and extols “desire for freedom” as “the primordial American trait.”

His breakdown of the Colonial population includes 1. Patriots, 2. British-sympathizing Tory loyalists and 3. So-called fence-sitters. No mention of Indigenous tribes. No mention of once-free Africans and others who were kidnapped and brought to our shores to slave for those freedom-loving white folks who had no trouble depriving them of their freedom.

He posits that, “Our government’s lone job is to ensure individual rights to speech, worship, peaceable assembly, private property, etc.” All these years and I thought the government’s main job was to protect the citizenry (even from other citizens claiming to be “patriots”). Why else would 54% of the budget go to the military?

2020, he says, was when “real” Americans separated themselves from the folks who just live here. How? By playing Russian roulette with COVID-19, of course. Six hundred thousand Americans (conservative estimate) died from the virus, John, and all you’re worried about are those (Democratic) governors who had the audacity to lock things down and require folks to mask up. You see Americans’ “near total compliance” (not “real” ones, I’m sure) as a failure. Check the stats, sir. Those actions demonstrably saved lives.

The thing about individual freedom is that one guy’s freedom to swing their fist ends just short of everyone else’s nose. Right now, things are happening in this Land of the Free that take away some folks’ right to vote and worse: Allow those in control to simply toss out election results if their guy didn’t win. That, in my opinion, is as un-American as it gets.

Pauline S. Hunneman
Freeport