Gray matters

I find it troubling that we as a society so easily fall into the trap of declaring issues in absolute terms. For example, and drawing again on my recent excursion to D.C., I kept thinking to myself that I support immigration reform, just not reform identical to that being called for in the rallies on the lawn. There are similar questions of choice specific to terminating pregnancy and the recognition of same-sex couples.

I am pro-choice. I don't mean that in the liberal "I believe in the rights of the individual except when it comes to owning property or guns" sense. Nor do I mean it in the conservative "I believe in the rights of the individual except when they want to take drugs or have abortions" sense. I mean it in the absolute sense. This being said, one of my many oppositions to the health care abortion passed this week was the issue of taxpayer funded pregnancy termination. Yes, people should have the right to choose to have an abortion if they so desire. No, they should not have the ability to demand that someone else pay for it.

However, many on the left tried to make this a black and white issue of choice. Abortions, like health care in general, are not a right. Nor are they things for which one person can steal from another to pay for the activity of a third. I was disappointed that the final vote hinged on abortion, not because it rightly pointed out the immoral act of taking tax payer money to fund this activity, but because it served to fuel those who wish to force their ethical code on the rest of us by banning abortion.

Gay marriage is similarly gray to me. Marriage is a religious ritual and, as such, is protected from federal intervention by the first amendment. I'm not a Christian, nor do I espouse any beliefs adhered by the world's organized religious groups, but I do recognize the need to protect religious activity from government control.

At the same time, I believe that two people wishing to join together through a social contract should be recognized equal to any other couple, regardless of their gender or sexual practices. The only way that I see this as possible, while enforcing the constitutional protection enjoyed by religion, is to separate the religious act from the social contract. This is not to say that we should simply allow for civil unions as well as marriage, but we should make all such contracts into civil unions and leave the marriage act as a separate religious rite void of social or legal implications. Then, each union can be granted the same recognition without violating the constitution.

Recollections of my early forays into political activism

My recent trip to our nation's capital was not without it's reassurances that ignorance and stupidity remain among our nation's great pastimes. Having only recently begun attending anything remotely political, the experience has served to reinforce my understanding that few people truly grasp what freedom means.

As with the prior events, this spectacle was populated with many people touting their religious zeal, descrying the exercise of personal freedom vis-a-vis the choice to prematurely end pregnancy, and speaking out about their unique ownership of citizenship as it relates to immigration. One prime example of all that is despicable about conservatives repeatedly insisted that Hispanics, there to protest for immigration "reform", return to their home. The fact that they may have been born in this country seemed to escape her.

On the opposite side of the coin were those who, instructing us that we were ill-informed, sought every opportunity to silence our voices while screaming about first amendment rights when others attempted to respond in kind. I always marvel at how arrogant liberals are, insisting that only they are smart enough to understand what is necessary despite the obvious flaws in their "logic".

Why is it so difficult for people to see their own hypocrisy? Each side, liberal and conservative, claims the moral high ground of individual liberty while attempting to squelch the rights of those they oppose. Am I really one of the few who understands this?

I did spend an hour or so engaged in a great conversation with a fellow Marine Corps veteran who found that he and I agreed a great deal on what freedom meant, though he had never considered himself a libertarian. I suppose there is some hope for us yet.