Are you a homosexual? Do you believe in gay marriage? Do you want equal rights? I have no problem with that. Do your thing.
Are you for bigger government control? Are you for higher taxes? Do you want more entitlements for all? I have no problem with that. Vote your conscience. Preach your political dogma. It's your right.
Do you believe that anyone who wants to come into this country should be allowed free access to do so, with immediate rights granted to them? Do you want them to get government assistance and to be able to get jobs, driver's licenses and be able to vote without being American citizens? I have no problem with your beliefs. Vote for the person who most resembles your way of thinking. Do all you can to attain these things, within the law.
Do you believe in abortion on demand? Are you a person who fights for women's rights when it comes to a consequence of their actions? I have no problem with that. Get your placard and stand on the street corner and shout it to the rooftops. That is your right.
Are you a person that believes America should be downsized so the playing field on the world stage will be more in line with the other nations in the world? I support your right to fight for that. This is America, after all.
I believe the problem we are running into is that our countrymen have forgotten one very important thing. When the balloons are set loose, and the rhetoric dies down, and we all go home to our families, we should remember that in the end, we are Americans. We aren't left, right, gay, straight, Republican, Liberal, Independent, Green, Anti-Green, Vegan, Vegetarian, or Carnivore. Regardless of being Baptist, Muslim, Catholic, Jehovah's Witness, Mormon, Pentecostal or Atheist...if you live here and are a citizen, we are all Americans. Black, White, Asian, Hispanic...if you live here and are a citizen, we are all Americans.
Yet, divisiveness is killing this nation. There are the race-niks, the religious-niks, the politcal-niks, the sex-niks, the rights-niks, etc etc etc. One can't speak what they believe without the others railing against them to drown them out. The other can't speak without being rudely interrupted and accused of being uncaring, inhuman, and scurrilously evil. Even though we are a diverse nation of peoples, we don't have to be diverse when it comes to showing respect for each other and coming together as Americans when it counts. And when is that? It is when another American's liberty is infringed upon. My liberty ends where yours begins. And, your liberty ends where mine begins. If we all would live by that one rule, America would be great again in no time. We all need to remember that liberty is not the freedom to do as you will, but the freedom to do as you ought.
I have no problem with what you believe or which cause you hang your hat on, as long as it is lawful. What I have a problem with is when those who don't agree with me then turn to rend and vilify me as someone who is uneducated and less than human. I actually had a vegan tell me one time that I should be killed since I eat meat. How tragic. I do not deserve to live because I eat meat. This is where we are heading today...if we are not already there. Too many people believe this way:
"I have a cause. It is more righteous than your cause, in my mind. Therefore...you are the enemy and must be destroyed. First your voice must die. Then your reasoning must die. Then you must be contained."
We all know what the last step of tyranny is, don't we? If not, then we are doomed to repeat history. For some reason, Americans do not think this government will turn on us. They do not fear the unthinkable for that very reason.
I will believe in your right to choose your own path. If you try to restrict me from doing the same, my response will be....Don't Tread On Me.