( – promoted by lowkell)
Americans believe passionately in liberty. Personal freedom is fundamental to the entire American Experiment. After all, what freedoms do we have if not the inalienable right to decide personal choices personally? When a personal decision impacts no one but the individual citizen, no government, foreign or domestic, should ever interfere. If they try, they will have a fight on their hands. “Give me liberty or give me death” is our de facto national motto.
Liberty in America was/is/will always be at risk. It is in the nature of humankind to exert power over others. Today’s tactical battlegrounds of liberty are reproduction and marriage, but the strategic stakes are much higher. Personal liberty is at risk. When Americans are forced by their government to cede personal decisions to sheriffs and judges, we cede personal liberty.
Religious zealots are hell-bent on undermining personal freedom in America. They want government to interfere in the personal decisions of Americans when it comes to reproduction and gay marriage. Without a shred of evidence that compelling societal impacts exist, zealots want government to impose their religious beliefs upon on all Americans.
Whether a woman chooses to abort a fetus is a decision between herself and her God. Her neighbors have no right to intrude on this personal decision. In fact, if an abortion results in one fewer unwanted child in the community, or in one fewer back-alley medical emergency, her neighbors should applaud her decision, not indict it.
When two people marry, they deepen their love. They give themselves an added bridge to survive tough times. Why would any American want to interfere in this most personal decision? What is the compelling social need to constrict a person’s freedom to commit themselves to another person in marriage?
Anti-American zealots justify interference in personal liberty as defending marriage or defending life. As though marriage, which has endured for millennia, needs defense. As though uncontrolled hemorrhaging and unwanted and unloved children are not the inevitable consequences of their religious agenda.
Abortion and gay rights are not just social issues. They are fundamental tests of personal freedom in America.
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