Women’s March 2021

Today is about resolving a conflict between the freedoms of We the People (WtP) to choose our own destinies and the obligation of the Government authorized by WtP to protect those freedoms.

What exactly is freedom?  Freedom is an ideal that can never be achieved in a society of beings that rely on each other for existence.  For example, a family has the freedom to establish their home anywhere they choose, but what happens when multiple families wish to choose the same home?  Without a government, or other mediator, how does such a conflict get resolved?  The purpose of our democratically elected government is to enact, enforce, and interpret laws that help WtP resolve disputes like this and many, many more.

For today, the debate is centered around the conflict between a woman’s right to choose termination of a pregnancy and the Government’s obligation to protect the lives of its citizens.  With 328 million people having 328 million different ideas on how to balance the competing interests, it is up to the government to establish the most appropriate balance to meet the requirements of the 328 million, without favoring the requirements of the few, or the one.

Most of the 328 million agree it is unreasonable to eliminate a woman’s choice to terminate a pregnancy before a woman has had a reasonable amount of time to consider the consequences of doing so, which must be accompanied by the knowledge that a pregnancy exists in the first place.  It is also unreasonable for the government authorized by WtP to allow termination of a pregnancy in the final month, as a child at that stage of development can easily survive without a dependency on the mother or medical interventions.  The task that WtP must resolve is to determine where to draw the line for the transition from a woman’s freedom to choose and the government’s obligation to protect the lives of those within its borders.

The United States of America belongs to WtP and it is up to WtP to make this non-trivial decision, not as individuals, but as a collective of 328 million people.  It is about the will of WtP and not about the will of you or me alone.

https://twitter.com/m64mcbride

Political Differences Among Conservatives

It has always been more clear when describing political differences between Republicans and Democrats.  Of course, each Establishment has always been good at drawing clear lines in the sand.  As a life-long conservative thinker, I have not been a supporter of Donald Trump since many months before the 2016 election.  Since that time, many Trump supporters have lashed out by calling me a Democrat.  A handful that haven’t lashed out as a first course of action have been seen to describe political differences.  I’d like to take some time here to discuss those “political differences”.

My political beliefs consist of the following:

- When a dispute arises in US law, the Constitution takes precedence over everything and everyone.

- Because of the 2nd Amendment, the US Government cannot pass laws that would disarm We the People (WtP).  The Amendment does not provide any individual rights to personally own weapons.  If our Government were to put forth a referendum on gun control, for example, WtP could decide to enact restrictions on gun ownership without  violating the 2nd Amendment or any rights of individuals.  Wake up Congress!

- I don’t believe in abortion, but I do believe in the right of an individual to make their own decisions about abortion up to a pre-defined point in fetal development.  That point in time should be debated, not the absolute availability of abortion.

- I believe the US should control the amount of debt it takes on behalf of WtP.

- I believe taxes should be equitable based on each American’s ability to contribute.  The graduated tax system is quite sufficient and would work much better if the thousands of loopholes were removed that only the wealthy can benefit from.

- I believe it is wrong to physically assault the Government while it is engaged in performing its Constitutional duties.

- I believe every US citizen with the legal right to vote should not only be allowed to vote, but measures should be taken to make it easy for them to vote.

- I believe the Government bares a great deal of responsibility for the health and well-being of the people it serves.

For the moment, those items make up the core of my political beliefs.  For anyone who thinks your political beliefs are different than mine, I’d be more than happy to discuss those differences.  Before you tell me you and I have political differences, please read the above and come prepared for the discussion.  That is my impression of the way civilized debate is supposed to be.

https://twitter.com/m64mcbride

What Black Lives Matter Means to Me

Black Lives Matter (BLM) is not about anyone else’s life not mattering.  It is just a long overdue recognition that black lives matter.

Let’s take a look at the American example regarding black lives.  From the very beginning of the United States of America (USA), black lives didn’t matter the same as all other lives.  Even the original Constitution counted a black life as three-fifths of a life and the voting rights to the three-fifths of a life were given to slave owners rather than the person being counted.

Move forward to the 1960s, more than 184 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, when Congress finally began to recognize the disparity through legislation such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.  More recently in the early half of 2020, almost 244 years after the Declaration of Independence, a policeman murders George Floyd in front of hundreds of onlookers as though George’s life didn’t matter.

In America, the Land of the Free and the Melting Pot that was to serve as an example to the rest of the world, We the People of the USA are still struggling to find what our Country is all about.  White lives have always mattered more than any other life in America.  Non-white lives that weren’t black lives were always treated by law better than black lives.  Very few people who support BLM are saying other lives don’t matter.  They are just saying it’s time for the world to recognize that black lives matter just as much as anyone else.