State of Affairs

Diego Lopez

“United Nations Week is, of course, I think, really an American undertaking. The American association with the United Nations started United Nations Week in preparation for United Nations Day, which is an international day. Practically, as many countries as are members try to commemorate United Nations Day, but we in this country try to prepare in the week beforehand so as to spread more information and understanding about what the day really means,” First Lady Elanor Roosevelt said on October 18, 1953 during a taping of the black and white John Daly show, “What’s My Line?” In my whole life I never knew there was a United Nations Day, let alone a United Nations Week. Yet, we just celebrated the holiday on October 24 – with very little fanfare, to be honest.

Now, if you’re familiar with my work here, you may know that I have my reservations about the UN, especially since Putin’s War in Ukraine began. I think the UN has fallen victim to a political practice called “elite capture” by the Chinese government where spies do everything in their power to get people with political connections in their pocket. Meanwhile, the UN Security Council is doing nothing to punish Russia – a prominent member of the UNSC – during this war of colonial aggression. The primary mission of the UN is being tested today like never before, with many saying that the UN needs to be dissolved like the League of Nations was during the Second World War. Despite her flaws, though, the UN really is a very important organization with one of the most important missions ever undertaken by humanity: Safeguard Freedom.

There is no other entity in all of human history with the legitimacy, power, and means to convene the nations of the world in the same manner as the UN. This is a treasure which needs to be safeguarded and strengthened so that the capture of a single, or handful of elites will not jeopardize the mission of the UN.

To really understand the mission of the UN, we need to understand what freedom is.

As Americans, it is very easy to take our freedom for granted. We all do it every day, which is why I think United Nations Week and United Nations Day were never taught to me in my elementary, middle, and high school years. We have become too complacent with the freedoms we have – so complacent that Americans actively work against one another to strip each other of our rights.

Freedom is the ability to do as you please with minimal restrictions. If you enjoy the ability to choose who you marry without permission from your local, state, or federal government; and you enjoy the right to own a firearm, then you like freedom.

Freedom is the ability to do as you please with limited restrictions, even if you face arguments over it. As Americans, our forebearers paved the road for freedom and liberty. They knew the constitution they had created was not perfect, and so they allowed for amendments to be made in this most important document. This paved the way for our Bill of Rights, the first 10 amendments, which led the way for the next 17.

The 27 amendments do not mean that this country is or was evil, but they do mean that we’ve made some mistakes and we are working to correct them as a nation. Anytime an American freedom or liberty – whether enshrined in the constitution or not – is challenged, that is a bad thing.

I love my freedom, even if I forget how fortunate I am to have this freedom. As Americans, despite our personal feelings about the sometimesstrange things our fellow countrymen do, it is vital that we defend each other’s freedoms. I don’t want to lose my freedom, and I don’t want my fellow Americans to lose their rights either.

Freedom is not uniquely American, but we are the most wellequipped people in the world to safeguard it. Enter the United Nations, where the seeds of freedom are released and given a chance to root in people and nations across the globe.

Now, in 2022, thanks to a failure by the United States to maintain its international presence for a handful of years, American leadership has slipped. This slip gave authoritarian governments, which despise the idea of freedom, an ability to attack the idea of freedom. Now, we have war in Ukraine, the possibility of war with China over Taiwan, and conflicts brewing across the globe.

We need to come together as a nation and remember the ideas of freedom which caused this nation to bloom into the powerhouse that it is. Because, despite that slip in American power, we have made serious strives to reintegrate ourselves with the international community which has cut the national deficit by nearly half and is helping to preserve the freedom of Ukraine.

As Americans, we would have no freedom if it were not for the Heroes of this nation. The same is true in every other free nation. Ukraine is a free country where the Russian bear has set its hungry gaze, and despite suffering horrible losses, the bear continues to try to force the Free World into a conflict which would test freedom against autocracy. Right now, the Heroes of Ukraine are shedding their blood to secure freedom across the globe, and they need continued US support.

Our freedoms and domestic protections hinge on a Ukrainian victory.

If the Free World concedes territory to Russia to bring this war to an end, it will give authoritarians across the world a green light to take territory by force. This scenario brings a dark age to the world.

Whether it be the freedom to marry whomever you like or to carry a firearm, whether you like the idea of these or not, these are freedoms we enjoy as Americans. To safeguard them, we must act like our grandparents and great-grandparents who sacrificed everything to protect this nation. No one liked the high wartime prices of WWII, but instead of complaining, our nation came together and defended freedom. We must do this again, and endure the harsh prices to ensure that freedom isn’t lost.

Ukraine’s victory will protect freedom. The United Nations is an entity which will help to ensure that freedom stays protected. Currently, the order of the world in which we were born into is being tested. We cannot be complacent as our whole way of life is threatened by authoritarianism.

We are free, and it is easy to forget we are free. But, when red flags are hanging from every streetlight with gold stars on them, we will miss the freedoms we have. We cannot let anyone – be it a foreign enemy or a domestic ideologue – take away our freedom.