I do not belong to the Republican Party because, among many other things, it identifies itself as a party of liberty when in fact its platform and a large number of its members and politicians routinely advocate for laws restricting freedom of choice with regard to such things as abortion, drugs and marriage. To name but a few.
I do not belong to the Democratic Party because, among many other things, it identifies itself as a party of inclusion and tolerance when in fact its platform and a large number of its members and politicians routinely advocate for laws restricting freedom of choice with regards to such things as property rights, dietary habits, smoking, health care and gun ownership. To name but a few.
The folks at the Reason Foundation—via its reason.tv website—have put up a video showing just how hypocritical Democrats interviewed at their convention in Charlotte, NC are about "choice." Reason could have made one showing the very same thing about Republicans' hypocrisy on the subject of "freedom" (and I wish it had).
The fact is that while we all love to spout off about how much we care about "freedom" (the Republican hot button) or "choice" (that of the Democrats), in reality most of us only want the rest of society to tolerate everyone's right to choose the things we choose.
We've all become a sad collection of bluenoses in this country, spending inordinate amounts of time forcing our smarmy self-appointed ideas on behavior into the business of others, where they are neither welcome nor (more importantly) Constitutionally sanctioned.
Watching fellow citizens spend so much energy and emotion telling each other what they can and cannot do with their personal choices while the nation's—and the world's—economic foundations are crumbling into sawdust and a growing international movement of radical Islamic terrorism threatens to blow us all into smithereens, one is tempted to laugh at the absurdity of it all.
Unfortunately, we don't have the luxury of laughing at it. We're about to choke to death on it.
A version of this post also appears on Mark's personal blog, Smoggy Don's Loudmouth Soup.
