The title of this blog is inspired by a Bjork song of the same name. I'm not a big fan, but my husband is and we went to two of her shows last week. On this tour, she ends every show with her song "Declare Independence", in which she shouts "Don't let them do that to you" and encourages her fans to "raise your own flag". It resonated with me in light of what is currently going on with our government.
We learned several weeks ago about the IRS targeting conservative groups. They can deny it all they want, but we know the truth. This is clearly a violation of our 1st Amendment rights to free speech. As if that wasn't bad enough, we recently learned that our 4th Amendment rights were being violated by our own government having full, unadulterated access to our cell phone records (luckily it was Verizon...I'm glad I use AT&T). This is HIGHLY disturbing. People may say "well, I have nothing to hide" and the truth is most of us have nothing to hide. If the government was to read my text messages, they would mainly find me chatting about nothing with my friends, what's for dinner with my husband, and they would be exposed to countless pictures and videos of my incredibly adorable dog. Just because we have nothing to hide, doesn't mean the government should have access to it. It is a very slippery slope from perusing phone records to the police showing up at your front door and demanding to look inside your home. It has to stop here or we will be living in a police state with no right to privacy.
Our country was founded on the basic principles of freedom from tyranny. If we let the government stomp all over our 1st and 4th amendment rights, what's next? Many pro-gun people have argued the same beliefs regarding the 2nd Amendment, and while I do believe in some gun control, I do agree with 2nd Amendment advocates in this regard. In the last two weeks, we heard a story of an elderly woman who defended her home from a burglar with her handgun. We also heard about a disturbed young man who killed several people in Santa Monica, CA. It's pretty clear...someone like him shouldn't have access to any kind of gun (handgun or AR-15), but someone like this elderly woman should have a gun. She's a law abiding citizen and she used a handgun to protect herself, her husband and her home. That is the kind of gun ownership and use I firmly believe in and support. I believe that limitations on guns like the AR-15 and background checks to prevent guns from getting into the wrong hands are necessary and do not violate the 2nd Amendment. Law abiding citizens absolutely have the right to own a gun for protection.
When I started this blog, I did it with the hopes of bringing our party a little closer to the center, so we can win the next election. Obama's actions of stomping all over three amendments are basically handing us the next election. If he keeps this up, we will surely win, but I hope that this doesn't cause us to remain a party of extremes. We are a party that stands up for the rights of all people and I really hope we move towards that path. 2016 is still three years away and a lot can happen between now and then. I will leave you with one of my favorite Thomas Jefferson quotes. "When the people fear the government there is tyranny, when the government fears the people there is liberty."
Thanks for listening,
The Urban Republican
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