Who Are You?

I want to ask you a question; who are you? Who are you REALLY? What philosophy comes first in your life?

Are you a human being first then a liberal or conservative, or are you a liberal or conservative first then a human being?
The answer makes a difference.

If you are a human being first, then mankind is your business in the sense that you look out for each other, help each other, and care about what happens to each other. You look to do something about it, not because you are mandated to; because someone else says you should, but because it's the right thing to do.

If you are ideological first, then something else comes first; something besides your family and your fellow man. You do things based on what others think of you, because you are told to think or feel a certain way, because the other guys way is "wrong" or because someone has made you feel guilty if you don't feel the way *they* do.

Our liberties are being lost by degrees; like the flaxen cords the Adversary binds us with, we are giving things up a fraction at a time with hardly the bat of an eye.

The mall kiosk seller who signed away his right to sell what he wants by signing a contract with the mall administration; the gun owners who hand over their guns because the community thinks it's the best way; the smokers who can't even smoke in their own backyards because the infamous "secondhand smoke" carries to the neighborhood; the cord blood collected at birth; the vaccines given against the will of the individual or parent of a child; the list goes on. All liberties lost to ideology.

What happened to personal responsibility? When did it become okay to tell others they had to do what we want because it offends us or bothers us?

I'm not a smoker; never have been, never will be, I detest the smell, the grime, etc.
Do I have a right to tell a smoker not to smoke in their own yard?? Heaven's NO! Nor would I ever imagine I had the right.
Do I have a right to step into a smoke free environment in a restaurant? No! I may have the DESIRE, but not the right. Do I have the right to eat at a restaurant that chooses to be smoke free, or to sequester smokers?? Yes! The restaurant owner then has the right to decide, based on sales how he wants to proceed. If revenue goes down because non-smokers want to go elsewhere, the owner will make decisions based on the bottom line or make no changes because he's happy where things are.

No one is willing to give up their ideology to let others alone. If my favorite restaurant is not a smoke free environment, I'll have to weigh the pros and cons of eating there, and make my decision accordingly. I neither have the right nor the expectation that the owner will or should change his policies based on me, but I am the consumer and will take my dollars where I am most comfortable, and maybe occasionally go to my favorite place and deal with the consequences of having smoky clothing that needs washed, and the need for a shower afterwards.
I do not have the right however, to make the restaurant bow to MY wishes alone. The Government has no place interfering with the free market in the minutiae of life.

No one seems willing to sacrifice anymore. We want what we want, and we darn well better get it, or someone is going to hear about it.

Ideology vilifies activities to limit the liberties of others. Smokers are not the bad guys, those who don't recycle or use those stupid light bulbs are not the bad guys, nor is the reverse true either.

The bad guys are those who kill abortion doctors because "abortion is wrong"; the bad guys are those who use imminent domain to take from a private citizen "A" and give to a private citizen "B" for citizen "B's" financial gain.
The bad guys are those who use ideology on either side of the coin to make you and I do what may or may not be against our wishes, or, to take matters into their own hands, apparently believing themselves to be judge and jury.

So I ask again, who are you? Please be someone who values life and community over ideology; freedom over villainage. Don't let government further encroach on our lives; yours and mine, in an effort to be able to do all the things you would like to do. Be willing to allow others to live their lives free from intrusion, free from mandates. Be responsible for your own life and destiny, and let others do the same.

Ideological viewpoints are not indicative of one view or another. There are nut jobs on either side of the spectrum. Don't be one of them.

It's OK to BE ideological, just don't expect others to agree with you.