Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Freedom isn't free.

This is not a funny post, and honestly, it shouldn't be. I posted a bit of this on facebook the other day, but a momentary rant made me really start thinking about what's going on in today's political climate. This will be my only post on politics in this season (unless, of course, I "misspoke" in which case a PR person will shrug and comment somewhere on my blog that I didn't mean what I said. Even though I do, indeed, mean it).

Know what happens when you give away your rights over and over to government entities for "protection"? YOU GIVE UP YOUR RIGHTS. Know why we have the first and second amendments? Because when the US was a colony we didn't have the right to protest or stand up for ourselves. That's what the founding fathers intended with the Bill of Rights, with the Constitution, and with the freedoms we TOOK for ourselves in this country.

I resent that the political party originally valuing personal responsibility, financial independence, and small government influence/interference has become a Christian Coalition front-man pushing EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE sorts of controls on US citizens. Guess what? Religion has no place in government, and it BURNS me that the same party that bitched and moaned about a Catholic taking office (Kennedy, hello) is the SAME party pushing for more and more religion-driven-morality laws in the current government. Yes, Republican uber-conservative-religious-fanatics, I'm talking to YOU.

I resent that the political party originally valuing civic duty, taking care of the less fortunate, and ensuring the welfare of many over the wealth of the few has become a fucking nanny party determined to erode common sense and ANY sense of responsibility in favor of taking away my personal rights, particularly the right I have to protect myself with a gun, if necessary. That's right, uber-liberal-do-gooder-busybodies: I'm talking to YOU.

What the hell happened to all the MODERATES? You know, the ones who have common sense and can agree with some basic principles on both sides?

Seriously, what happens when we give up our rights? We lose them, and it takes a goddamn revolution to get them back. I'm not interested in a revolution: in a war people suffer on all sides. I'm interested in the government pulling their heads out of their ASSES and making some sense, because right now the Right is alienating any female citizen who has ever been assaulted, victimized, harassed, or is terrified of someone else forcing her to make health decisions without her consent. The Left is alienating honorable men and women who feel strongly in their right and ability to protect their own lives and loved ones, and who understand that NO GOVERNMENT SHOULD EVER be in a position of absolute power over its citizens. Know why?

Absolute power corrupts. Absolutely. (Thanks, Spiderman!)

See what I mean? Democrats and Republicans are EXACTLY THE SAME. They both want to take all the personal control of our lives, (Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, anyone??) our forefathers and -mothers fought and died to take back from a colonizing empire that held us hostage.

Ever since 9/11 we've been giving away our freedoms and our rights in the name of "safety" and "protecting life."

But freedom isn't safe: it never has been.

You want to give up your rights, fine. I think you're fucking stupid, but it's YOUR choice to do so. However, you don't get to give up mine for me in the name of "keeping me safe" or "for my own good" or because you want to control my body and my choices.

Government busybodies don't belong in my bedroom, in my gun cabinet, in my phone/email/facebook/twitter/etc, in my diary, in my bank accounts, my medical records and decisions, or in my marriage.

I value my freedom. I respect the men and women who, over CENTURIES, have given their lives for that freedom. I would like to see this election result in protecting our hard-won rights and freedoms, not either fanatical agenda.

Sigh. End rant.

4 comments:

  1. I couldn't agree with you more. I am voting Libertarian.

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    1. Thanks Pat.

      This fall will be difficult one for me. I don't know: part of me hopes an indpendent/libertarian will beat them both. Part of me is pretty terrified of the idea that Romney will get enough conservative party-line votes that Libertarian votes will take away from Obama...and Romney will win. There is much to consider this election.

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  2. I totally understand you on this one. Where the hell ARE the moderates?

    I worked with a local Occupy Wall Street group last fall. Whatever your thoughts are on the OWS movement as a whole, I can guarantee you this group was nothing like the norm portrayed by the mainstream media.

    Some of us came there with the mindset that we could look at political ideas from a fresh standpoint - a standpoint where right and left didn't figure into it, but where we looked at giving power back to the people but without letting the underprivileged fall through the cracks while simultaneously maintaining the ideals of the constitution. In short, we were trying to combine ideas from the right and left and come to agreements on some huge core issues.

    Then we got derailed by people on the right and left side of the spectrum. It was frustrating and disheartening. If 30 people in a Midwestern Iowa city couldn't come to a consensus on this, how could we ever hope to change our entire political system for the betterment of the people? The group broke up after about 6 months.

    One thing I know this fall is that I don't want the country to fall into the hands of a corporate giant/religious zealot. So even if I don't agree with some of what the Democrats and Obama are doing, I'm going to vote for him.

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  3. Anonymous4:06 AM

    Spot on, hon. Spot on. This election is depressing me.

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Unload your brainpan, but please prove you're not a Russian spam-bot. Or Skynet. I don't want the T1000 after me.

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