I am an absolutist when it comes to my rights.  I believe I do, in fact, have a right to yell “fire” in a crowded theater so long as no one is endangered in the process.  I believe I have a right to lie to someone so long as I’m not using that lie to defraud them.  I believe I have a right to carry a firearm anywhere, at any time, if I so desire.  I believe that I have the right to own any kind of armament that I can afford, provided the contractor who built it hasn’t agreed to keep it from civilian hands per their military contract.

But I’m one of the few.  Far to often, people argue that freedom is all fine and good, but must be restricted.  They either refuse, or are unable, to see that freedom for one means freedom for all.  Every small piece of ground that was lost has been used, or will be used, to justify the taking of more freedom.  The petty tyrants of this nation will use such measures to routinely strip away more and more of our basic rights. 

They will argue that it’s OK to regulate language on television because we already tell people they can’t yell “fire” in a crowded theater, and the people will accept it.  Then, there will be a push to require equal airtime to opposing viewpoints on television and that’s fine because we already restrict what kind of language we allow.  People will accept it yet again.  Then television stations may have to run their new programing through some kind of television czar to determine if the program is acceptable, because we already let government have some control over what is programmed as it is.  Many will be fine with this as well.  But now, we have lost significant freedom because the government controls the most commonly used form of communication.

Freedom is a fragile concept, one fraught things that scare so many folks.  It’s easy to rail about freedom while opposing it in truth.  Many people in this nation describe themselves as “freedom loving”, but will be quick to restrict firearm ownership or free speech.  They describe themselves as “patriots”, while also hoping to shut down magazines like Hustler and Penthouse.  They believe they are, at their core, “true americans” while fighting to keep something illegal that has no consequences on anyone but the person using it.

Freedom has fallen in many places.  Are we better off than most?  Absolutely.  That’s beside the point.  I refuse to see “better off than the rest” as being the same as “good enough”.  I’m not going to just pretend that being somewhat free is fine, so long as we’re more free than the rest of the folks.  We are supposed to be free.

I’m going to depart from Jeff for a moment, and say that if you want to put up an nativity scene on the courthouse steps, that’s fine.  But you had better keep your mouth shut when the Jewish community want to put up something to celebrate hannukah.  You had better keep you mouth shut when the local pagan coven wants to put up something to celebrate their beliefs for that time of year as well.  You had better keep quiet, not because you have no right to speak, but because you would be a hypocrit.  You have a right to say it, and I’ll defend your right to say it, but I’ll also point out that you have a right to be a hypocrit who wants freedom for yourself and no one else.  You want the right to do as you please, but would deny that same right to others.

Freedom is what it is, and we have lost so much of it.  If we aren’t careful, we may witness the fall of freedom.  To blame Obama alone would be ridiculous.  He’s hardly the first, and neither was Bush.  They have been trying to restrict freedom since before the ink was dry on the Constitution.

It doesn’t matter where it started.  What matters is where it ends.

At first blush, I wanted to agree. After all, we pay for their salary so why not let just us decide. That feeling lasted about .013 seconds. I’m pretty ashamed that it lasted that long.

You see, while it may sound like a good idea, it’s about as un-American an idea as I’ve ever heard.  For years, the right to vote was denied Americans for a variety of reasons.  They weren’t allowed to vote because of their gender or skin color.  Then, they tried to tie to to property ownership, all to keep out those same folks. 

Any attempt to deny someone the right to vote is an attempt to remove their God-given rights.  It’s no different than trying to remove their right to speak freely or to own a firearm.  It is, in my not so humble opinion, the most dispicable thing one human being can do to another.

Not only that, but contrary to what some folks think, there are a lot of people who don’t pay taxes who I think few would argue should be barred from voting.  Such as, you may ask?

Veterans, disabled due to wounds in the line of duty.

You see, they may not be paying taxes, but do they not deserve the right to vote?  Would those who want to disenfranchise non-taxpayers from voting care to look a veteran in the eye and tell him that despite his/her sacrifice for this nation, he/she no longer has a right to vote?  Would they actually have the nerve, or the guts, to tell these folks who sacrificed so much that it was for a nation that has lost it’s sense of freedom?

Make no mistake, the vast majority of voting aged people in this nation do pay taxes of some sort.  Even when those who don’t pay vote, they’re outnumbered by those who do.  So where’s the problem?

Personally, what I heard that frosty Monday morning was obviously the result of someone with a pale sense of freedom.  It’s easy to love freedom when it’s for things you agree with.  It takes a much paler sense of liberty to seek to eliminate the freedom of others because they’ll make decisions that you won’t necessarily agree with.

People like Dougherty County Commissioner Jack Stone who seems to think that there are bigger fish to fry than giving people the right to decide how they’ll be governed.  I mean, it was only important enough to fight a freaking WAR over about 230 years ago, but hey…it’s not that big a deal, right?  Come on Commissioner, you and I both know damn good and well that this is about fear, you’re scared your position will lose, so be damned if people get a say, right?  Well, you work for us, not the other way around.

Another group that needs slapping around it the Lee County Commission.  I normally don’t get into Lee County politics because I don’t live there, but they recently pulled a stunt that deserves them being smacked on the nose and yelled at like a puppy you just messed on the carpet.  Yesterday, they had a meeting.  Did you know that?  I didn’t either, and neither did Jeff who attends pretty much all of them.  They informed WALB, WFXL and the Herald about 12 hours before the meeting.  Basically, not enough time for them to actually do anything about it.  Why?  They didn’t want YOU to know what was going on.

Another group that needs to be reminded is the President and his goons.  It’s been reported that Obama and Emmanuel’s told a fellow Democrat who’s been critical of the President that they were “keeping score”.  Guess what Mr. President?  We’re keeping score too, and you’re not looking to good from my perspective. 

Congress definitely needs an attitude adjustment.  So many of them believe they’re untouchable, and they don’t understand their place.  For example, one Senator actually had the nerve to tell Neil Cavuto that tax dollars aren’t our money.  Or take Diane Feinstein…please.  This woman received 91,000 calls and emails by her count, and 85,000 opposed TARP, but she still said that they should do it.  They don’t even pretend to give  damn what we think anymore.

It’s time we take our government back on all levels.  We have to remind these people just who they work for and just why they have to listen to us.  It’s past time.  We’ve all let this go on for far, far to long.  Now is the time to do something, or you could just accept your new role in life: serf.

The choice is yours.

However, sometimes, freedom can give you some outcomes that can suck.

I equate taxation with slavery in many ways. The idea that a percentage of each day is worked to benefit someone else bothers me a bit. But the idea that my wages belong to another with me having no say so really crosses a line with me. While I do understand where taxation stands, and I do understand that some form of financing for the government is needed, it doesn’t mean I have to like it. Instead, I favor non-income taxes since I can often find a way around those, and thereby making them more voluntary…more or less.

However, sometimes tax dollars get spent on things that are wrong, but do benefit some folks. Take the downtown redevelopment plan. People all over Albany are paying taxes to the city. Property taxes and sales taxes alike. Yet some of these tax dollars are being funneled to redevelop downtown. For some who own property downtown, it’s very easy to be in favor of it. For many, it’s truly a belief that it’s a good plan. They’d be in favor of it if the plan involved East Albany instead. For others, it’s easy to be in favor of downtown redevelopment because they get to benefit. They’d oppose redevelopment plans anywhere else, but support downtown.

Let’s be honest folks. That is nothing more than intellectual and philosophical dishonesty. If redevelopment is good, and you believe the city should be involved in that, why would East Albany be less worthy of redevelopment? The reasons may be different, but why?

I use that as an example, and nothing more, to illustrate a point. Sometimes, taking the “free road” ain’t easy. A couple of days ago, I blogged about zoning laws and other things that code enforcement does. Once commenter brought up all the horrible things that zoning laws prevent. One example, a liquor store, actually sounded more like a feature of no zoning laws than a bug. After all, a liquor store next door? No more having to drive to go get some beer! Others were less pleasant, like a crematorium.

Frankly, the commenter was right. All of those things would greatly suck. Any of those things would cause my property values to decline and I’d lose money on my investment. Not only that, but my neighborhood wouldn’t be the kind of place I’d want to continue living, so I’d have to move.

So what?

Let’s ignore the fact that home ownership is a type of investment, and the only type where the law protects your investment from things other than fraud. Let’s focus instead on freedom.

If someone buys the property next door to my house and plans on building an industrial plant, then yeah…it sucks for me. But since I have the freedom to live there and build whatever type of house I want (hypothetically), how then can I block that property owner from doing whatever he wanted to do? If I do, I’m a hypocrite because I expect to do whatever I want with my property, but won’t let him do the same.

In Albany, it’s a violation of city code for someone to have a piece of furniture on their front porch that isn’t specifically designed for outdoor use. Why? What difference does this make in the grand scheme of things? However, some people are glad to see this ordinance. They don’t want to see the couches and stuff chairs on folks’ front porches. That’s their right to not want that. But I don’t want to hear a damn thing from them when the city tramples on their property rights in some way. Whether it’s the use of imminent domain to get property for Phoebe, or a new law that tells them they have to cut down that old oak tree in their front yards. I don’t care.

Yes, you may not like what your neighbor does. But sometimes, you just have to deal with it. Sometimes, doing what’s right can really suck.

The ideological left argues that the only way to help our poor is to have government do it for us. After all, Americans are greedy capitalist bastards with no regards for their fellow man. The fact that Americans are still the most generous nation never seems to enter the equation.

Meanwhile, the right argues that we must protect our children from the evils of drugs, prostitution and pornography. The evils of these acts far outweighs any freedoms that could be associated with them. Of course, the fact that none of these things have been legal in most of our lifetimes seems irrelevant, and folks seem oblivious to the fact that these acts continue.

Arguments in favor of a lot of laws ignore the fact that, as Americans, we should be expected to exercise personal responsibility. Yes, many things that we Libertarians want to legalize could easily be termed as bad. Drugs are not healthy. Prostitution is not a career I would wish for a daughter. Pornography is something I don’t want my kid looking at. But where and why should this be illegal. Where is the personal responsibility.

The primary argument I hear in regards to drugs and prostitution is that both have other crimes associated with them. Drugs are argued to lead to criminal activities ranging from robbery to murder. Prostitution is often undertaken to pay for drug habits and can lead to abuse of the prostitute at the hands of the pimp or a john. These are valid arguments. These activities, in our society, do lead to these acts. Of course, the fact that these other acts are illegal already seems to miss the mark for many people.

These other crimes should be prosecuted. Personally, I feel the punishment for these crimes are pathetic. The idea that a man can kill another in cold blood, but be out of prison after a few years? This is ridiculous. Instead, I favor more draconian sentencing that would put them away for a very, very long time. Would we try to “rehabilitate” them? No. Put them away for society’s protection, not for the criminals benefit. Then, people may begin to understand the ramifications of their actions.

For all the freedom that we libertarians ask for, we also demand the flip side. That is responsibility. We must exercise that freedom with that responsibility. Before you say people won’t do it, let me point out that it happens every day. It happened behind the wheel of a car as just one example. The best example, in my mind, is carrying a firearm.

When I have my pistol strapped to my side, I’m exercising a freedom. I also carry a great burden and responsibility. Should, God forbid, I ever have to draw my weapon and fire, I am responsible for every round that leaves my weapon and where it goes. I’m responsible to ensure that I am actually being threatened. I’m responsible for not just playing with the damn gun. The list of things I’m responsible for is long. And yet, I and thousands of other Georgians carry every day without incident.

However, it’s worth remembering the old chestnuts the gun control crowd loves to throw about. Phrases like “blood in the streets”, etc. All are based on a premise that people are incapable of being responsible with their firearms. And yet, one study suggests that those with permits to carry weapons are actually less likely to commit a crime than any other group including police officers, lawyers, judges, and even politicians (they’re trustworthy, right?).

Those of us who are parents should understand the basics of what’s at work here. When you want your child to be more responsible, you give them responsibilities that come with some kind of benefit or freedom, like staying out late or extra TV time. When they fail to live up to those responsibilities, you punish them to teach them the importance of those responsibilities. Nothing major, but just enough to get the point across. It’s how I was taught, and probably how you were taught. It’s how people learn to shoulder responsibility.

However, our current society is incapable of allowing one to exercise responsibility without a fight. Carrying a gun is one. However, we have erased others completely, like the responsibility for a parent to provide for their children based on the fruit of their labors. Now, they can just let Uncle Sam provide, and the rest of us foot the bill. Their responsibility is gone, taken away and placed on the more responsible members of society. However, there’s no punishment, no repercussions for their actions. So, more and more will take the easy way out. Not everyone, but enough.

Now, if we just put the responsibility back onto people, make them responsible for their actions, what kind of world would we have? Would we have a world where people could be trusted not to screw up repeatedly? Would we create a world where right and wrong existed again? Would the private sector return to it’s place as the director of all private endeavors? What would happen?

I honestly don’t know for certain, but I’d sure as hell like to find out.

Freedom is such an easy concept to understand, but such a difficult thing to actually keep hold of.  With each passing day, we get less and less.  What’s worse is that the attacks come from all angles.  Not just the federal government, but state and local governments too.  We will find ourselves less and less free as time rolls on unless we can stop the onslaught.

Freedom doesn’t disappear under a tyrrant’s boot.  It disappears to roaring accolades and lofty ideals.  The attacks aren’t against what we can agree on, but on that which is fairly easy to build consensus.  Anyone can support a march to draw attention to HIV or breast cancer.  But supporting a group of neo-Nazi’s right to protest in a Jewish community?  That’s a lot harder.

So, someone tries to block it.  Someone tries to block our use of cell phones while we’re driving, claiming it’s dangerous.  Someone tries to tell us when we can buy alcohol, citing that the Lord’s Day isn’t for consuming spirits.  They try to take away our guns, and claim it’s for the children.  They try to take away our healthcare decisions, and claim it’s better for everyone.

Not once in this world’s history as a tyrrant not claimed that their way was the best way, that they could end whatever suffering was present with their works.  That’s how so many nations came to embrace socialism with it’s lofty ideals that the state would make sure everyone worked and no one got rich off the backs of laborers.  Communism laid out a system that simply claimed everyone was equal and would get the exact same, no matter what.  Then, there would be nothing to challenge the equality.

Both systems are terribly flawed, and we know it.  Yet these systems and ideas still persist, despite the fact that both require we lose freedom.  The freedom to succeed was so basic of a freedom that the Founding Fathers never imagined there would be an attack on that. After all, there were so few places where that could happen as it were, even most monarchies were open to the peasants amassing wealth.  As such, they never codified it into law.

Our rights, even the ones protected by the Bill of Rights, are hit with restrictions.  We have the freedom to say what we wish…sort of.  We have the right to keep and bear arms…for the most part.  We have protection from illegal search and seizure…kind of.  We the People, like idiots, let it go.  We allowed restrictions like requiring a permit to protest.  We allowed gun control to creep into our lives.  We allowed the Patriot Act to errode our protections from government.  We allow our states and local governments to dictate when and where we can buy alcohol.  We allow all of this.

Freedom is precious.  It’s sacred.  It’s something that must be fought for, and you can’t do it by picking and choosing which parts of it you like.  Any attack on any freedom is an attack on every freedom.  All to often, I hear arguments for gun registration that say “well, we register cars, so what’s the difference?”  Because they have successfully required on thing, they don’t see why you oppose it on another front.  And that is how it goes away.  We have let them do it once, and now they will keep going until freedom is just a memory.

Both liberals and conservatives are guilty.  Conservatives rammed through the Patriot Act, while Liberals seize on gun control.  Both have attacked our freedoms…but only the ones they don’t like.  And there in is the crux of the problem.  It’s easy to attack what you don’t like.  It’s damn hard to defend that which you despise.  But sometimes, what’s easy and what’s best for our freedoms aren’t exactly the same thing.

Doing what’s easy is how it disappears.  And how easily it does slip away.

Unfortunately, that’s a very subjective thing.

Every day it seems, I encounter someone who’s wants to outlaw something for some noble reason.  Perhaps they are religious and want to outlaw pornography.  Maybe they’re crusaders hoping to outlaw hate speech.  Who knows.  It can be anything, and they are all what I term as “true believers”.  They are convinced of the righteousness of their cause, and will do whatever it takes to legally enforce their beliefs. 

Here’s the thing though.  What they are assaulting is another person’s freedom.  They seek to take away one person’s right in an effort to shape the world into their ideal.  It’s OK, they argue, because as a society we must do whatever it takes for the betterment of society.  That sounds fine and good right now.  But what about when someone decides your activities are offensive?

When you pick and choose freedoms to permit others, you are opening the door for others to pick and choose your own freedoms.  Perhaps you think pornography is wrong.  That’s your right.  However, the moment you take a step towards removing it from the world, then you have impacted my rights to decide for myself and for the producer of that pornography to speak freely.  However, you can easily crusade to prevent pornography being shown to our children.  This, I feel, is much more noble so long as you propose no measure that interferes with an adult’s right to view such material.  There is the difference.

Freedom, in this nation, can’t mean freedom for only a select few.  It must mean freedom for all, even those you fundamentally disagree with.  It means that one person must have the right to keep and bear arms, while another must have the right to not keep guns.  It means that while I find their message disgusting, hate groups must have the right to speak that message.  It must mean freedom for every single one of us.

Some day, we will live in a world without racial prejudices and sexist ideologies.  Some day, we will find that freedom for everyone is a much easier concept to swallow than it is now.  But until then we have to fight for everyone else’s freedoms, even if for no other reason than to protect our own. 

An attack on any freedom is an attack on every freedom.  We must fight those attacks with every weapon we can muster and with the determination of Leonidas.  We must summon the courage of the warrior cultures of which we are all decended, regardless of what continent that culture is from.  We must face assaults on our freedom with vigor and resolve, or else our freedoms will disappear one by one.

They’ve already started, and have been for years, but it’s not to late to get them back.  But we will have to fight for them.