I’ve argued before, sometimes successfully and other times not so much, that an assault on any freedom is an assault on every freedom. I’ve pointed out the ludicrous nature of attacks on our civil liberties by those who defend others. Frankly, that’s the majority of the people too.
So why am I revisiting it again?
Well, to start with, it’s important. You see, until we can all understand the need to defend things we hate, we’ll never be able to make a true stand for freedom. Many argue that freedom for some things will cause all kinds of problems, but I wonder just how they figure.
As a Libertarian, we are most often hit with drugs since we tend to favor legalization on some level. I’ve been told, time and again, that legalization is a bad idea because of all the other crimes associated with drugs. However, that’s a load of crap.
You see, drugs haven’t always been illegal in this country. For years, things like opium were available off the shelf, and there were very few crimes related drug use. Those that were committed were dealt with swiftly, much like drunk driving is dealt with today. There was no criminal underworld that deal with drugs, because there wasn’t a need.
Then, one day, a bunch of do-gooders decided that they needed to protect people from themselves. They lobbied, successfully, to outlaw drugs without prescriptions in the vast majority of cases. You see, drugs were dangerous substances that you couldn’t be trusted to use responsibly. Basically, someone had to decide what you needed before you could have it.
Now, many of you are really OK with that, and that’s fine. But let me point out something very similar.
You see, today, the vast majority of gun owners use their weapons in a law abiding way. Guns are used to defend their owner’s lives many more times than they are used to kill the innocent. It just isn’t their way. After all, the law abiding will be law abiding, and an inanimate object isn’t about to change that, right?
But, you see, there are these do-gooders who are lobbying to strip you of your guns. You see, they believe they’re dangerous impliments that you can’t be trusted to use responsibly. So, they want you to basically have to get persmission to even think about owning a gun…in the most lenient examples from some of these folks.
The do-gooder mentality sounds just fine except that it’s all predicated on the idea that you are an idiot who can’t be trusted to figure out what’s really in your best interest. Not just some of that do-gooder mentality either, but all of it. So, we need to stand against all of it. Every victory they achieve not only emboldens them, but makes them stronger.
And yet, so many who claim to love freedom will stand and allow assaults on that freedom. Me? I stand for that which I hate to that I won’t be backed against the wall on that which I love. I could argue that X freedom being lost will secure my own safety…
But I’d rather be free.
