Do not misinterpret that thought. Abortion is now shrugged off simply as a woman's right over her body, and therefore practically tossed on the same level as her decision to get a tattoo or a piercing, and credit card debt is now more common than people who have a Facebook account.
And then, we have people convincing the masses that guns are awful and kill people, yet they use something that kills almost three times more in a given year; a car. (In 2009, 11,493 were killed by firearms in the US, while 30,797 people were killed in motor vehicle accidents.) Food for thought, eh?
The media attempts to convince people that you need more government in your life in order to live a good one. People here condemn the rich for simply being rich, regardless of the reasons, and then they pity and look down upon those in poverty for having less. We prioritize flat screen TVs, subs in our cars, or the latest smartphone over baby formula, family dinners, or things simply more important. Our leaders in the past decade have tried to tell us that we need to sacrifice liberty for security, and sometimes done so without the people's consent in the first place.
I'm not pointing the finger at Republicans, nor am I blaming Democrats. This is an American problem, not a left or right problem. When I have people involved heavily in both political parties posting statuses saying, "I'm not celebrating the 4th of July because I hate this country," I have to say I am terribly disappointed and almost disgusted.
I'm not going to sit here and complain and list off more problems, though. You know what has been going on if you have been paying the slightest amount of attention to the news. Instead, I ask you to hear my thoughts, and think about what I have to say. Put down your red or blue flag, and just read my words. That's the least you can do.
I simply believe, you see, that every human being has a right to a life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I also believe that that right is inalienable and should not be infringed upon or taken away by anyone or anything.
You have a right to a life. I can't take that away from you. I don't believe you mother has any power over that, as well. You have a right to be born, to make mistakes, and to be happy. And I could bring up abortion and we can sit around all day and argue about it. I understand one thing, though; that is that I cannot change whether abortion is legal or illegal. Last I heard, the only power in the United States that could overturn this is the Supreme Court. Our legislators, however, can definitely limit abortion and develop new laws to, I guess, make it harder to have an abortion. In the end, you still have that right.
You have a right to liberty. Liberty is defined as this: the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life. There's this quote from a guy named Robert A. Taft. He was the son of Howard Taft, the 27th President of the United States. Robert Taft failed, however, at ever becoming President. Regardless, he was my ideal statesman and an individual I'd consider as a true Republican. He said:
When I say liberty, I do not simply mean what is referred to as "free enterprise." I mean liberty of the individual to think his own thoughts and live his own life as he desires to think and to live; the liberty of the family to decide how they wish to live, and what they want to eat for breakfast and for dinner, and how they wish to spend their time; liberty of a man to develop his ideas and get other people to teach those ideas, if he can convince them that they have some value to the world...
So, yes, you have a right to liberty. And you should be able to think and live your life as you please so as long as it doesn't harm or hurt someone else. And yes, that means you can marry whoever you want or (and even) practice whatever religion you want (of course, you can also practice a religion that prohibits gay marriage, at least within its own institution, of course).
You have a right, then, to pursue happiness. That means you can be happy, and you should be able to do whatever you would like so as long as it doesn't harm others, to be happy. If you want to run your own business, do it. If you want to be a rockstar, go ahead and do it. It's your choice.
I mean, none of this is new to you. You understand what all three of those things are, yet we disagree on them so much. But do we really? Or is it that the media or our greater political parties say we do?
It's time for you to help fight for liberty. Ron Paul ran with this idea of a Revolution. He said in one his books that in a way, he did agree that his movement is kind of like a revolution, but only in the sense that it is simply a peaceful continuation of the American Revolution that took place centuries ago.
This election cycle, I'm the campaign manager for a Congressional race that the media doesn't want to pay attention to, and we're going up against a candidate who many say will more than likely beat us in the primary. I'm not going to flinch, though, because it is liberty that we're fighting for. Rand Paul, a senator from Kentucky, feels like these views both my candidate and myself share are ideas and thoughts that members of the right, left, and everything in between can agree upon.
Let's do nation-building here, instead of overseas. Let's restore respect for life, and responsibility over each person's own life. Let's stop bickering about gay marriage and let people be happy, and let those individual institutions maintain their own beliefs within their congregations and both practice their freedom of religion and be happy as well. Let's imprison people for real crimes and not smoking plants. Let's award our veterans and not politicians. Let the people have their freedom and liberty back.
I celebrated the 4th of July the best I could after working all day and night. I prayed and hoped that night that maybe people would decide to stand up for freedom and liberty.
I want to close with a quote from Dr. Seuss. I just finished watching the Lorax. It was good, but the quote right before the credits stood out to me. "Unless someone like you cares a lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not."
So, whether you agree with me on this stuff or not, at least care. Because it won't get better until a majority of people do.
Feel free to visit my campaign website if you have any questions or interests. Thanks for reading. :)
In liberty,
Abe Levy
Campaign Manager for Eric Reyes for US Congress
309.798.4325
abe@ericreyes.us
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