Freedom is subjective and always a compromise.
One person's "Freedom" to not wear seatbelts for example, then imposes on another's Freedom - to be free of the expense of caring for the disability that comes with that decision...or perhaps we should just let all the poor bastards that wind up with head injuries die in the streets - good riddance - unless of course it is your mom, or your sister, or you.
Why should my rights as an adult human be trampled on because of someone else's religious beliefs - yet if I were to impregnate my wife (even though protection was used) that fetus' rights some how trump mine and my wife's rights in this state - what business is it of the State to tell me how or when I should procreate and how I should make decisions with my doctor and my partner?
Why can't my non-binary, transgender, gay child be allowed to choose their identity without bigotry, bias, or the state creating laws to decide that their healthcare choice is somehow "endangering" them, when it is in fact the exact opposite - this is a position supported by most doctors, the AMA, the APA, and the American Endocrine Society . I didn't ask for a LGBTQ+ child...I'm a straight, white, married man, who happened into a circumstance that as a parent is extremely challenging. But as a father all I can hope for is my child's happiness and for the State not to make laws disenfranchising them and their rights (my rights as a parent).
What about the freedom to read? Books are being banned all over this country because they don't agree with someone's political, lifestyle, or religious views, that is not Freedom, that is fascism. If you don't want your kids to read about someone who is gay or black or somehow different, tell them not to.
I believe in the 2nd Amendment, and although I'm not a gun owner, I support gun rights, but like anything else it is not an absolute. Not a sane person would argue that every person in this country has the right to own a nuclear weapon. Or, should have the right to own and use ballistic missiles at their whim. So, it comes down to degrees. Weapons of war belong with the military, in my opinion, and reasonable people can debate where the lines are drawn.
Yes, I'm center-left - all the positions above are more center than truly left. I think the far left is just a ****ing crazy as the far right. And not too long ago I was able to have civil, albeit, animated discussions with my friends on the right and we would debate. It was always with respect. Now it is impossible. The rhetoric has gotten so vial and vitriolic that it winds up in a shouting match every time - and these are life long friends of mine. It seems I can only talk "politics" with those that agree with my point of view - which is both boring and non-productive. Typically, I stay off message boards and social media because I can't change opinions (which I won't today, I know.)
Small government is great until disasters happen, or wars happen, or an extreme political party begins to take away the rights we hold dear - although I will admit rights, sometimes like beauty, are in the eye of the beholder. Big government sucks because it is wasteful and slow and bureaucracies kill ingenuity and the soul. I don't have the answers, but I do know is that demonizing Americans (yes, I am a "true" American who loves his country deeply) because we happen to hold a different belief system or different values is the path to destroying the greatest country the world has ever seen and that would be a damn shame.
