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I'm still trying to figure out just what FREEDOMS I have lost to government over the years. Which one have you lost? Specifics would be appropriate, not just feelings.
Simple example from yesterday, I bought my niece and nephew new bikes as we had house fire and they lost them. The new helmets were at their house and I forgot them, we were not making the trip back to their house until after dark and would be at my house for the whole day. While I support helmet use I'm not going to be fanatical about it, those bikes sat in the truck the entire day because there was no helmets.
While this may seem trivial I despise the fact that I can't make this choice for myself.
Other examples? DUI checkpoints which is actually worse than the Arizona law, helmet laws for motorcycles, smoking bans in private establishments, can't park a car in my private driveway without it being registered and insured, common sense home repairs now need building permit and have to be inspected if you are allowed to do them at all... PA for example when they revamped their building codes were going to require you hire certified electrician to install a hot water heater....
How about sin taxes? These don't take your freedom away but instead are meant to curtail the freedom to choose by simply making it too expensive. Now they are talking about adding a soda tax and regulating the amount of salt in pre processed food... maybe I like my peanuts with a ridiculous amount of salt on them.
We have the government making MPG mandates on light duty trucks that may prevent me from purchasing the truck I need, not the truck I want but the truck I need.
Greg if I sat down I could think of list a mile long. Most of these laws are to prevent the nitwits from hurting themselves but frankly I'm more than capable of making these decisions for myself. For example not only would I not ride a motorcycle without a helmet I avaoid them entirely unless it's offroad...
Simple example from yesterday, I bought my niece and nephew new bikes as we had house fire and they lost them. The new helmets were at their house and I forgot them, we were not making the trip back to their house until after dark and would be at my house for the whole day. While I support helmet use I'm not going to be fanatical about it, those bikes sat in the truck the entire day because there was no helmets.
While this may seem trivial I despise the fact that I can't make this choice for myself.
Other examples? DUI checkpoints which is actually worse than the Arizona law, helmet laws for motorcycles, smoking bans in private establishments, can't park a car in my private driveway without it being registered and insured, common sense home repairs now need building permit and have to be inspected if you are allowed to do them at all... PA for example when they revamped their building codes were going to require you hire certified electrician to install a hot water heater....
How about sin taxes? These don't take your freedom away but instead are meant to curtail the freedom to choose by simply making it too expensive. Now they are talking about adding a soda tax and regulating the amount of salt in pre processed food... maybe I like my peanuts with a ridiculous amount of salt on them.
We have the government making MPG mandates on light duty trucks that may prevent me from purchasing the truck I need, not the truck I want but the truck I need.
Greg if I sat down I could think of list a mile long. Most of these laws are to prevent the nitwits from hurting themselves but frankly I'm more than capable of making these decisions for myself. For example not only would I not ride a motorcycle without a helmet I avaoid them entirely unless it's offroad...
Sorry about the house fire man...now let me read the rest of this post.
I agree....people have been conditioned to the point that they don't see these things as a loss of freedom....I could add to your list the number of things they've done security wise in airports in the name of fighting terrorism....metal detectors and taking our shoes off wasn't enough after 9/11..so now they implement the use of body scanners...and 20 years down the road we will think that the microchips we need implanted are just for security as well....
I'm not saying for sure that microchip implants are going to be used, but I would never submit to the use of a microchip in my body even if it meant that it was the only way I could pay for food. That is too much control and loss of freedom. Point is that incrementally more taxes, and security measures in the name of terrorism/the boogeyman are taking away our freedoms.
When I read about folks screaming about the loss of their freedom and they bring up issues like the right to openly carry a firearm in a store that prefers that they didn't, or who equate taxes with theft, or even the issue regarding mandated health insurance, I think about folks around the globe who would like to spend a day free from torture, arrest without charge, the ability to walk down the street without a car bomb going off, to freely speak their mind without their paper being shut down, internet access blocked or jailed for saying something that irritates the local government. When I compare real world denial of rights to the list of grievances of some americans, I can only come to the conclusion that these arguments trivialize any real meaning of freedom.
None of the freedoms we enjoy in the United States are trivial. Each and every one of them is worth defending to the end.
This should be a policy set by the store, just like the smoking debate it's not about the owner of the private establishment setting this policy but the government setting it. The owner should have the freedom to set whatever policy they want.
The right to smoke in a public facility, now there is a freedom worthy of manning the barricades (and I'm a smoker).
What about the rights of employees to work in a safe environment? Must waiters and bartenders be forced to inhale your freedom at the risk of their own freedom to live healthy lives?
As for the hysteria over being able to openly carry a firearm in a public establishment, hell why must the state force me to wear clothes? I'm sure out in this land of jejune freedom lovers their is someone screaming about their right to swing their dick in public!
Their are rights and their are minor inconveniences, I count the above as inconveniences. You don't have to smoke, and you don't have to open carry a firearm to carry one!
I swear, discussing these freedoms is like when I used to have to talk to my then teen aged daughter about school rules!
The right to smoke in a public facility, now there is a freedom worthy of manning the barricades (and I'm a smoker).
What about the rights of employees to work in a safe environment? Must waiters and bartenders be forced to inhale your freedom at the risk of their own freedom to live healthy lives?
As for the hysteria over being able to openly carry a firearm in a public establishment, hell why must the state force me to wear clothes? I'm sure out in this land of jejune freedom lovers their is someone screaming about their right to swing their dick in public!
Their are rights and their are minor inconveniences, I count the above as inconveniences. You don't have to smoke, and you don't have to open carry a firearm to carry one!
I swear, discussing these freedoms is like when I used to have to talk to my then teen aged daughter about school rules!
So you would take a microchip if it was for security from terrorism or financial reasons then? How about that income tax? Did you look into that?
The right to smoke in a public facility, now there is a freedom worthy of manning the barricades (and I'm a smoker).
It is not a public facility, can the owner prevent you from entering the establishment for the reason "I don't want you in here"? If yes it's a private establishment you are invited into by the owner. This decision should be left to the owner. Now there is talk of banning it in cars and people homes... I know you're going to say that isn't going to happen but 30 years ago if I said they were going to ban smoking in bars there would be people telling me I was nuts too.
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What about the rights of employees to work in a safe environment? Must waiters and bartenders be forced to inhale your freedom at the risk of their own freedom to live healthy lives?
They can apply for jobs at non smoking establishments. They have the freedom to pick and choose where they work. What about a welder, mechanic, drywaller, painter or any other profession where the air quality is going to be poor. Anyone of those professions is going to have worse air quality conditions than working in a bar. If you choose to be welder poor quality air in the working environment is one of the hazards of your job.
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As for the hysteria over being able to openly carry a firearm in a public establishment, hell why must the state force me to wear clothes?
Because you don't have the constitutional right to be nude, having said that many establishments exist such as nudism resorts and there is even public nude beaches. Do you think it would be right for the government to come in a tell a nudist resort you can't have people walking around in the nude? It's the same thing they are doing with the smoking bans in bars and restaurants, the freedom for the owner to choose his own policy has been removed. There was nothing preventing someone from preventing smoking before these bans.
When I read about folks screaming about the loss of their freedom and they bring up issues like the right to openly carry a firearm in a store that prefers that they didn't, or who equate taxes with theft, or even the issue regarding mandated health insurance, I think about folks around the globe who would like to spend a day free from torture, arrest without charge, the ability to walk down the street without a car bomb going off, to freely speak their mind without their paper being shut down, internet access blocked or jailed for saying something that irritates the local government. When I compare real world denial of rights to the list of grievances of some americans, I can only come to the conclusion that these arguments trivialize any real meaning of freedom.
My kids would try to use this logic on me when I questioned them about getting a poor grade. Their response would be something like "Well, other kids did worse then me." As if their substandard grades would be ameliorated because someone else's grades were worse.
When I read about folks screaming about the loss of their freedom and they bring up issues like the right to openly carry a firearm in a store that prefers that they didn't, or who equate taxes with theft, or even the issue regarding mandated health insurance, I think about folks around the globe who would like to spend a day free from torture, arrest without charge, the ability to walk down the street without a car bomb going off, to freely speak their mind without their paper being shut down, internet access blocked or jailed for saying something that irritates the local government. When I compare real world denial of rights to the list of grievances of some americans, I can only come to the conclusion that these arguments trivialize any real meaning of freedom.
All the things that others worry about, we too shall worry about in the United States someday. And those who advance the cause of "freedom" the loudest, and those who remind us to be scared of those who wish us harm, and those who tell us of the necessity to invade and occupy other countries will be the same people who tell us we need to torture others in order to remain safe.
And by then, a majority of Americans will be sufficiently conditioned to accept these changes and believe the tyrants and usurpers who tell us they are protecting America
yes, the idea of protecting yourself with a gun at your side, having half your paycheck taken away and being forced to buy something you don't want is SOOOO trivial.
I am part of a civilized society who respects the individual. and at the beginning of this country our founding fathers didn't want to F with our citizens.
In my case, taxes do not amount to half of my paycheck ... closer to 20%. Of course the idea that no taxes be taken out or maybe 5% or 10% seems attractive, but then I guess we would have to get rid of the police force, the fire department, public libraries, prisons, mental health facilities, the armed services, diplomatic missions abroad, medical research, etc., etc. ad infinitum.
As far as carrying around an unconcealed weapon, I don't have so much a problem with that ... but does the right to carry an unconcealed weapon includes going into banks and jewelry stores?
The right to smoke in a public facility, now there is a freedom worthy of manning the barricades (and I'm a smoker).
What about the rights of employees to work in a safe environment? Must waiters and bartenders be forced to inhale your freedom at the risk of their own freedom to live healthy lives?
As for the hysteria over being able to openly carry a firearm in a public establishment, hell why must the state force me to wear clothes? I'm sure out in this land of jejune freedom lovers their is someone screaming about their right to swing their dick in public!
Their are rights and their are minor inconveniences, I count the above as inconveniences. You don't have to smoke, and you don't have to open carry a firearm to carry one!
I swear, discussing these freedoms is like when I used to have to talk to my then teen aged daughter about school rules!
The analogy to your teenaged daughter is spot on--but it doesn't help your case. Our government is treating us like children, telling us what we can and can't do because it's for our own good. When a teenager decides he or she is tired of being treated like a child he or she moves out and gets his or her own place. Unfortunately when the nanny state treats us like children we can't move out. You may think that it is trivial for adults to be treated like children. I don't.
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