I Have Been Spoiled by Freedom

As an American I am spoiled by the freedoms I’ve known all my life.  I did not grow up in desperation; where I watched my family slaughtered by people who didn’t like my tribe, or my religion.  I did not have to run, wondering what I would find to eat or where I would sleep, although in this great society there are those who do.

As an American I have had choices, oh so many choices.  I never had to accept no, if I didn’t want to.  When one door closed on me, I could find an alternate path, if I really wanted what was behind that door.  Now our society seems to be changing from where people like me expect only a chance to find their way, to where when confronted with a no, the individual expects the government to find that alternate path.  It is up to the government to make everything right and just.  It is up to the government to make life perfect.

I watch as we tune into the television or radio each day to hear as our favorite celebrity advises us what to think, and how easily we give up that simple right to think for ourselves to support, without question, politician’s who promise to make our life perfect.  In this struggle to convince us they are right and the other side is wrong each will jump on the bandwagon of slander and personal attack.

These past two weeks have seen a cavalcade of accusations and counter-accusations revolving around the congressional testimony of one Ms. Sandra Fluke to a group of democratic representatives and Mr. Rush Limbaugh’s disparaging comments about her.   While I may disagree with Ms. Fluke’s assertions on the impact of a lack funded contraceptive services has on her and other women, her testimony has become completely irrelevant, because it now serves only as a battleground for liberals and conservatives over everything but the core issue of the role of government with regards to the church and mandated health care. 

As I see Mr. Limbaugh lambasted as a misogynist (a hater of women), by the left, I sit amazed at their tolerance of someone like Bill Maher who has a much longer record of calling women names.  Why is that?  Is there some context where calling a woman a slut and a whore is okay?  Perhaps, if you don’t like a woman’s politics it’s okay, but clearly Mr. Limbaugh didn’t like Ms. Flukes politics, so that can’t be it.  Maybe it has to do with media, are TV audiences more forgiving then radio?  Fortunately I am an American and I can just turn off the TV or radio and ignore this, but can I really?   Can I sit and watch this foolishness and just remain quiet?  After all, I am but one small voice in a flood of voices.  Personally I can think of no better fate for Mr. Limbaugh than to lose all his listeners, for that would mean they move towards something else, perhaps something better.   At the same time Mr. Maher’s loss of audience would be just fine with me, because it would mean people have tired of his vitriolic spew (called humor by some) and are looking for something else.

Changing subjects – How can those who support the current administration in their ongoing expansion of the government’s control of our lives take issue with things like the Department of Health and Human Services and Congress’ decision to regulate what food you can eat and how its safety is documented.  According to the FDA rules - producers of food products will have to document almost everything from planting through digestion.  For those operating small “boutique” type operations, like communal organic gardens, this law may put an end to that type of set up because of the cost of record keeping.  Surely our public safety far out weighs the insignificant risk of mass illness from these small ventures.  As the FDA states right up front it is shifting its role from responding to those instances of contamination to preventing them.  They are only looking out for our own welfare.  As they point out in their regulation each year 48 million people get sick from food.  Almost 128,000 are sick enough to be hospitalized and of those 3,000 actually die.  For the record there are almost 312 million Americans so we are talking about .0096% of the population die from foodborne causes.  Just to put this into context there where about 32,000 highway deaths in 2010. 

My point here is simple, if you want a government to protect us from those things we don’t like, or provide us all the things we think we want, you have got to accept a government able to impose itself on those things we do like.   I don’t think you get it both ways.