You respect my rights and I'll respect yours (please read)

This is a pretty good post by a civil liberties examiner, just imagine if this really happened! it's a must read ...

It comes down to the same thing: When liberty is under attack, everybody is at risk. But that's not what the politicians and inspectors and tax collectors and police officers say, of course. No, they're all too happy to tell you that the queers next door are a threat to your way of life, or that the gun nuts are a public danger, or that the tax dodgers are greedy and not doing their fair share, or the store keepers are running amuck without entangling red tape, or that the pot heads are lazy parasites who will corrupt your kids.

But once the politicians and inspectors and tax collectors and police officers are done with the queers, they'll happily shift their sights to the gun nuts, then to the tax dodgers, the store keepers, and then the pot heads, and ...

Where were you planning to hide? Forget about it. Because you're some kind of menace, too, and you'll be fresh out of allies if you don't realize that the freedom of people you don't care very much about is just as important as your own.

The sort of people who make up the political class -- the control freaks of the world -- are experts at divide and conquer. They have all sorts of reasons why you should be glad that somebody else is being hemmed in by laws and threatened with prison. Those people are bad -- until it's you who's so bad. What the control freaks will never tell you is that they'd be entirely unable to impose those draconian laws and threats if you'd ally yourselves with those different folks and their peculiar interests to protect their liberty and your own at the same time.

You don't care about your neighbor's gun collection and he doesn't give a damn about your pot farm? So what? If you help each other out, everybody wins. If you don't, you'll both end up losing something you want, or else hiding it in the shadows and hoping for the best.

Keep that in mind the next time a politician promises to protect you from bogeymen who look an awful lot like the pleasant couple who live down the street. Maybe it's time to knock on their door and talk about an alliance of convenience.

Because you're not going to stay free if the only liberty you care about is your own.

Read More Here

People need to realize what it would be like and truly open their eye's, i'm glad that not only the people on ATS have these same sentiments and are public about it ... what do you think of the article?

[edit on 13-2-2009 by baseball101]

This article does a wonderful job of explaining liberty. If only more people thought this way instead of using the government to imprison those "other" crazy people.

"They came first for the Communists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist;
And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist;
And then they came for the Jews, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew;
And then . . . they came for me . . . And by that time there was no one left to speak up."

- Martin Niemöller

Edit: Lol i didn't even notice the quote was in the article, but this was immediately what I thought of when I read the excerpt.

[edit on 13-2-2009 by ExistenceUnknown]

reply to post by ExistenceUnknown


yeah i agree ... i was going to post that quote but i didn't want my post to be too long ... but that is an awesome quote used on the subject, there's also a good one by Benjamin Franklin mentioned,

We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.

[edit on 13-2-2009 by baseball101]

Excellent article! And so true. If people would only realize how much power we have to protect our own liberties collectively, instead of falling for the divide and conquer routine...

Excellent! S&F...

There is another related quote, that I'm unable to find at the moment, about how the measure of a country is in how it treats its outcasts... the queers, dope heads, single parents, etc.

It is no big achievement to treat the mainline culture with respect and to promote their liberty... but to treat those with whom we disagree with respect and to fight for their liberty, is something else again.

And sadly, the current US culture is not doing very well (by our standards) in this lately.

Great article - S&F

To raise what will most likely be a contentious point, this is what happens in europe - we look after each other through our system of social welfare and healthcare.

To me, the US seems to be full of selfish people, more concerned with spending money on themselves than looking after their fellow citizens.

How often, on ATS I have heard the cry of "my hard earned dollars being spent on (insert social programme)"

Now I'm not saying that all Americans are this way inclined, BUT, until we all start to look after each other, including subsidizing those less fortunate, how can we possibly stand together?

The true measure of a society that is advancing is the WANT to look after the weaker members of that society.

No more of this "leave me alone, I've got mine jack, I'm OK"

When we can do this, we will be on the path to a society and system of governance that works.

Just think, no more agenda's, no more special interest groups, no more corporate rule.

Just us humans, living together and helping each other.

Excellent, S&F. I have been feeling this way for quite some time and just have not been able to put it into such eloquent words.

Divided we fall, United we Stand. Seems in this day we are far more divided than united, and I fear that we will be falling pretty hard.

It seems we have forgotten, that it is OK to have disagreements and different beliefs, opinions, thoughts and emotions than others without trying to "force" them to believe the same way we do.

I admit to this fault myself, and will strive to be better at standing up for others rights along with my own.

Peace

reply to post by baseball101


i agree this is a really good way of putting everything into perspective ... i also agree he seemed to use the right words to put across what everyone was thinking, but couldn't put into words ...

This is perfect. When it all comes down to it - we all want the same thing. A chance to get on with living life in a peaceful way. I'm going to Email this out to everyone I know and ask that they do the same. This kind of thinking is where our strength and ability to survive lies.

I guess part of me is surprised that
A. You have not gotten more flags
B. You have not gotten more stars
C. This thread has not gotten more posts

I guess it just goes to show many people do not want to respect others? I don't know. So I am asking people why they are not F & S this thread more. Not sensational enough?

reply to post by amazed


i agree i'm kind of let down, and surprised, hopefully more people will have a chance to read it