That’s what I was going to call this post: Why the hell would anybody want to be free?

Yes, the question would have been rhetorical and no I don’t mean I’m thinking of taking up communism or nihilism instead of the freedomquest.

But seriously. You know from experience that being a freedomista often brings you grief. You get the sorrow of watching your country go to hell. The agony of knowing your children will have it worse than you do. You have to put up with the sneers or uncomprehending stares of people who don’t want to hear perfectly sensible ideas. You hear media morons who know nothing about economics dismiss real money as “weird.” You watch the Bill of Rights crumble to dust, day by day. You know that the policeman is not your friend. That public servants are cruel masters. You know so much that it hurts.

Your neighbors, who fit in better than you, don’t know or don’t care. And they’re happy.

So why the hell would anybody want to be free? And by that I don’t mean, “Why would anybody rather be free than live in a Soviet gulag?” Or, “Why would anybody rather be free than to be tied up and waterboarded by a neocon puppet?” That’s obvious.

I mean, “Why would anybody rather be truly free than to live semi-free as we live now?” Or, “Why would anybody rather be Bill-of-Rights type free than live in, say, a European welfare state?” Why isn’t it enough to be relatively free? Freer than people in, say, Kenya or Saudi Arabia or even the UK or Massachusetts (sorry, Taxachusettsians).

The chances of achieving the degree of personal and political freedom we desire are slim, so why do we bang our heads when things really aren’t that bad (unless of course you’re Bradley Manning or Cory Maye or somebody else who has had too close an encounter with AUTHORITAH)?

But of course that’s looking at the question backwards.

The real question that dogged me all last weekend, the question whose answer could totally change minds, open eyes, and set spirits soaring is this:

So that’s the new name of this post: The One Great Thing. What one thing about freedom makes it worthwhile for those who seek it? What One Great Thing can make all the struggle worthwhile?

If you could convey to people just one simple thing that makes true freedom better than the alternative — one little thing that even a child could understand — what would it be?

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Just returned from the post office with the first-arriving Amazon wish list gifts. WhooHoo!

But my woohoos were muted by the fact that I still don’t know whom to thank. Amazon hasn’t revealed the gift-givers, but I figured the packages would contain that info. Nope. :-(

Today’s gifts were for the pups. I already know the giver of the bounteous bag of tennis balls, thank you MS Jordan. But who sent the wonderful Kong Wubba? All three dogs started jumping the moment I opened it, but this is going to be the special toy for Nadja. Poor Nadja is a sad case and a neurotic and she seldom ever plays at all. But bring out a Wubba and she’s like a puppy. Somebody — but who? — has made Nadja’s day. (And the tennie balls, of course, will make Ava’s year.)

So please, all you Secret Santas — speak up! If you’re not comfortable posting your identity in the comments section, will you email me so I can thank you? (Mail to wishlist at hermit.cotse.net or to my regular address if you already have it.)

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• I recently turned in a S.W.A.T article about hapless small business people who got entrapped into (allegedly and unknowingly) bribing officials of an Unnamed African Nation. They’re all facing ruin and prison time. So. Halliburton has now paid $250 million to Nigerian officials to get charges dropped against Dick Cheney. Okay, FBI, where are you when serious bribery is going down???
• The really sad thing is that the current article I’m working on for that ‘zine covers exactly the same sort of shakedown and payoff being committed by a corrupt government (but I repeat myself) right here in the U.S.
• Before we leave Africa: Bartering for medical care in post-inflation Zimbabwe. (NY Times subscription link)
• Back in the USSA (over it, anyhow): A total lunar eclipse. On the winter solstice. First such thing in nearly 400 years. Hope your viewing conditions are good. If not, no worries. You only have to wait 84 years for the next solstice eclipse.
• Your iPhone apps are watching you. (This one’s for you, S.)
• I don’t necessary agree with Damian Kulash. But the OK Go genius always has interesting things to say about how artists can survive and thrive in the digital world.
• Store owner squashes not one, not two, but three human vermin.
• Seventy-seven percent of Tea Party voters are just waiting for somebody to sell them the Brooklyn Bridge.
• Women of A Certain Age: You will surely get the truth of this one.

Holy puppy dogs. This amazing video Dave Duffy posted the other day just about made me cry for the beauty of it. Then, when I googled around for more on that glorious event, I found a much bigger, though by no means better rendition. Oh man, would you not have loved to be in one of those places at one of those moments? Maybe we’ll have our chance yet. Turns out it’s all part of a movement to bring random acts of culture out of theaters and museums and into public places. Wonderful thing.

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