You Can't Spell Liberty or Liberal Without Liber...Does This Make Them Cousins

I was called a funny name the other day.  One of my friends called me a liberal, extremist, offensive dictator.  This made me laugh initially because our president has only been called a liberal, muslim socialist.  So I guess this makes me a little bit better than him.  Just kidding, but on the real how can one be a liberal and a dictator?  How can I be a dictator in general when I have no political post?  This is confusing to me in the instance that the root of liberal, liber, means "free one"...look it up.  Well, I guess in the case of dictators being the only one in a dictatorship that is free, that makes sense.  But if liber means "free one", I can't be liberal if I'm a dictator because liberal means favorable to, or in accord with, concepts of maximum individual freedom possible, especially as guaranteed by law and secured by governmental protection of civil liberties.  Last time I checked, that is not the definition of a dictator.

So I understand that politics makes people crazy.  But why is it so partisan nowadays.  Perhaps I just wasn't tuned in to the way politics worked back in the day.  But I think even the old people would agree that this has gotten way out of hand.  People called liberals are against liberty...how does this work.  Both have the same root word.  If liberty means freedom, and liberals are favorable toward maximum individual freedom, how can anyone with half a brain say otherwise?  Perhaps the people that are screaming this are uniformed...or perhaps they are just stupid.  I think that a lot of people are confusing liberty and choice.  There are certain things that we don't really have the freedom to do.  Like I don't have the freedom to yell fire in a crowded movie theater or kill someone.  Well I guess I do, however if I do choose to exercise my freedoms in this way,  then I have to face the consequences.  However, in the case of health care, hospitals don't have the liberty to refuse service to people without health insurance that have no ability to pay for the treatment they receive.  So this means that people who pay for their healthcare pick up the additional costs associated with it.  I am in agreement for people without health insurance having the liberty not to purchase health insurance if I can have the liberty of not covering their costs when they can't afford the treatment.  Does anyone without health insurance really have an extra $1700 laying around to fix a broken arm???

I realize that a lot of things changing scare people.  I'm sure people were scared when they started sailing the oceans because they thought the world was flat and they would fall off the edge of the earth. I'm sure that people were scared about the world being round because they believed so long it was flat. I'm sure that people still think that minorities are out to steal their stuff and that the real problem with our economy is that illegal immigrants are stealing jobs.  BTW---Who are the people hiring the illegal immigrants to work at these companies??? I'm pretty sure that their not coming into companies and holding CEO's and HR managers by machete point until they relent and hire them for a job that pays way too little.

As I've been saying in my recent Facebook posts, we need to educate ourselves and have an informed discussion about the real issues that effect us.  I believe this used to be called a debate when I was younger.  Right now we have a bunch of adults yelling at the top of their lungs about the one thing that the other has done wrong, knowing full well that they've done things wrong too.  So the moral of the story, don't do drugs...but if you do decide to continue your ignorance, don't come at me sideways with your liberal extremist, dictator garbage speak.  And if you don't like what I say in response...don't mind me, I'm just thinking out loud.

Separate Is Not Equal

Dear America, when will we realize that separate is not equal.  It seems that throughout our history, we have always tried to come up with institutions that allowed us to divide members of our society and treat them as identical, having the same rights.  When will we realize that this is not the case?  Every time it results in the same thing, the disenfranchising and persecution of an entire culture of society to the point that violence erupts and lives are lost. George Santayana has warned us that, “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”  If we do not wake up, we are destined to repeat the same violence against our friends and family that we have perpetuated since the civil war.  Now, just think about that.  Since the civil war, we have had a history of conflict and bloodshed as a result of not giving people the rights that our constitution has promised ALL OF ITS CITIZENS!!! Not just the wealthy, white, heterosexual…but all.  I fear that if we don’t recognize this as a right to all citizens, then we are dooming ourselves to repeat the same fate as all of those who have come before us.

Now, let me preference everything by saying that I am a Christian.  I was raised in the Christian church and in a Christian home.  My parents were Christians before I was born.  I do not believe homosexuality is a choice.  I believe that practicing anything, be it homosexuality or heterosexuality is a choice.  What I mean by this is; that by being heterosexual, I have the choice to practice heterosexuality and engage in heterosexual relationships...or not to do so.  If I were homosexual and Christian, and if I believed what a lot of Christians believe the bible says, I could choose not to engage in a homosexual relationship; maintaining this same definition of what a Christian should do based on the Law listed in Leviticus.  Now, the issue here is what does the Bible really say about government.  If we all look at Romans 13:1-7, it tells us that God has established governments and that we should subject ourselves to it.  It goes on to say that if you do not subject yourselves to the authority of our government, then you should, “be afraid…They are God’s Servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.”  Nowhere does it say that me, as a Christian, should be against the rights protected to all citizens under the law.  In fact, if I want to be a good Christian then I need to make sure that, “I do unto my neighbors and I would have done unto me.”  And I know that I definitely do not want anyone to say that I can’t marry anyone that I want to marry and having the same rights as someone else has.  However, read the verse yourself to make sure that I'm not lying to you.

So here’s my point America, or the three of you that read this in America, the law is clear.  All citizens have the constitutional right to get married.  If everyone didn’t believe this, then Republicans would not continue to try to rewrite the constitution, defining marriage as being between a man and a woman.  And heterosexual, Christian, Black people, we need to get over ourselves as a culture.  It's not like we are the only people in American society to be discriminated against.  If you can't see the parallels between what blacks went through after slavery to what homosexuals are going through, then you are in denial.  It took us until 1967 until we had the freedom to marry anyone we wanted, as long as they were of the opposite sex.  Here we have the opportunity to make sure that every citizen has the same rights as far as marriage is concerned.  We need to understand that just because people say it’s ok for someone to do something does not mean everyone has to do it.  But separate is not equal, civil unions will never be marriages.  Sorry if you find my message offensive, I’m just thinking out loud.