Choices

We make hundreds of choices everyday.

Do I want Cheerios or Frosted Flakes for breakfast? Should I wear the green shirt or the blue one? Coffee or tea? Beer or rum? Somehow we manage to get through each day making all these choices without fighting with our neighbor over them, or bringing them up to the Supreme Court so they can decide what is best for us.

Yet there are certain things that just seem to ignite the flames of passion in us so strong that we can't help but bring anger, and hate, onto anyone that dares to disagree with us on the issue.

Right now there are a couple of hot button issues, front and center, in the news that are going to send an already fragile country into complete meltdown, no matter what the decisions will be. Abortion, vaccines, and voting rights have all careened to a crossroad between our democracy surviving, or the country denigrating into a civil war.

There is a minority in the United States that believes the government is meddling too much in our daily lives. They want them to stand aside and let the local governments, and people, decide what is best for them. They feel the feds have over reached when it comes to vaccine mandates, gun control, election integrity, and a host of other smaller issues. Except when it comes to abortion, then they want the feds to step in and make sure that no woman can ever be allowed to have an abortion.

They demand that the federal government, and now the Supreme Court, strike down Roe v. Wade and make abortions illegal once again. They are fervently pro life for the unborn, yet many of these same people are just as fervently pro death penalty, and anti vaccine, two positions that are the opposite of pro life.

How can you be both pro life and pro death?

On the other side we have a majority of Americans who believe that abortion should continue, as it is the right of each woman to determine what happens to their body, and life. Many of these people are also pro vaccine and believe that the government needs to step in and force everyone to get vaccinated, whether or not they want to be vaccinated.

How can you demand the right to choose for one thing and yet demand no choice for the other?

The reality of the world today is that the answer is, like always, somewhere in the middle of both sides. We don't need the government telling us every little thing to do, however, we do need them to make sure our basic rights are protected, along with taking steps to keep us safe.

People should be allowed to decide for themselves what works best for them, as long as others aren't physically, or financially, hurt by those choices. You alone should decide whether abortion is right for you, just like you should decide to own a gun or not, where you go to church, or who you vote for. These are just a few examples of things that people can decide that are personal decisions that don't affect your neighbor.

I know many of you are saying that owning a gun does affect your neighbor. While I may personally feel that there should not be any guns, I am realistic enough to admit that they are here to stay, so as long as people are responsible with them, and background checks are done, go own a gun if you want.

Conversely, we need the Federal Government to step in to protect us, and our rights, for things like getting people vaccinated during a pandemic, where we have lost almost 800,000 fellow Americans, paying and collecting taxes, or licensing people to drive, practice medicine, or be a lawyer, for examples.

There is nothing wrong having someone watch out for our well being. It's OK to admit we need watching over for some things. Look, we are never going to 100% agree on anything in this world, we are just all too different. However, there is no reason that we can't all agree that freedom of your opinion is alright.

We can think the other person is an idiot, or mentally unstable, for not agreeing with us, but we can agree that they have a right to be stupid, without getting violent, or suing them.

It seems pretty clear that the Supreme Court is going to insert politics into the abortion debate in front of them, instead of following the law. So be it. Now, if you disagree, you need to elect people that will take back control of congress, and actually do the work of the people, like they are supposed to be doing.