JDW, no apologies necessary at all. You have the right to express your opinion. I may have come down too heavy, but I’ll admit to getting a bit frustrated at some of the rants on here. I’m probably the one that owes you an apology. Nothing I am about to say is directed at you in any way. I’m not sure what I’m going to say yet, but I’ll say something and a lot of people won’t like it.
Fillmore, I agree that we need to defend our rights. If we don’t they will be taken away. That’s one reason when Uncle Sam wanted me in the early 70’s, he got me. Canada and Sweden were not options. You might even say there was some volunteering involved. But I digress.
But I look at our freedoms a bit differently than many on here. A few examples might be in order. I’ll take a few issues.
Freedom of religion. The Constitution basically says the government shall not use our taxes to push any specific religion on us. This means a Hindu or Buddhist’s taxes will not be used to support a Christian church. A Methodist’s taxes will not be used to support a Muslim mosque. The Supreme Court, as determined by the Constitution, has ruled that this means public property cannot be used to support any religion since it may have been bought with tax money and is supported and maintained by tax money. The work to support our Constitution and keep government from supporting any religion is not an attack on Christianity. It is an effort to keep government out of any religion. This applies to government employees while they are on the payroll clock. What they do on their own time is their business, but while they are being paid by tax money, is under this Constitutional protection. Which party says you can choose any religion you want as long as it is a version of Christianity? Which party says you can choose to worship as you wish without the qualifier?
Abortion. Which party wants to give the person the right to choose what she wants to do and which wants to dictate what she chooses? I’m not talking about what is right or wrong, purely which one wants to give freedom of choice versus which one is opposed to freedom of choice.
Gun control. This one flips. It is the only one I can think of that the Republicans win the free choice side of the debate.
Gay rights. Which party wants to control what goes in the privacy of your bedroom and which says that it is none of their business as long as it is between consenting adults. Again, I’m not saying which side is right or wrong, just which want to give the right to choose.
If freedom to make your own choices in your personal life is important to you as opposed to wanting government to tell you how to behave, which party will you support?
Now if you are talking about business freedom, that is different. One party wants to strip off all controls and totally deregulate while the other wants to keep some controls on how businesses operate.
